BEN Affleck squeezes into a suggestive red leather bodysuit as the latest superhero to leap from the pages of Marvel Comics to the big screen, but Spiderman can relax, Daredevil (15) is no threat to his crown as king of the crimefighters.

Affleck's blind lawyer fights for justice in the courtroom by day and on top of dark buildings by night as the fearless Daredevil.

He is inspired into being a superhero by the usual combination of a dark past and a bizarre accident involving chemicals. As a youngster he witnesses his father, a famous boxer, beating up a helpless man on the instructions of New York's formidable underworld boss, Kingpin, played by The Green Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan.

It is the last thing the youngster ever sees. Soon after, he is accidentally sprayed with a strange radioactive isotope which renders him blind. Trapped in a world of darkness, the lad discovers his other four senses function with superhuman sharpness.

After Affleck's father refuses to take a dive in the ring, Duncan orders his immediate execution. The youngster finds his father's lifeless body and vows revenge.

Writer-director Mark Steven Johnson models his big budget romp closely on Spiderman and The Matrix.

Heavy rock heralds each fight sequence, which employs wire work to allow the characters to perform gravity-defying acrobatics.

The cinematography and kinetic camerawork are impressive, but some extremely ropy special effects often wreck the illusion.

Affleck is athletic and suitably tortured but doesn't really allow us into the mind of his character.

The stunt sequences are breathlessly edited but the final showdowns, first with assassin Bullseye, played by Colin Farrell, then Kingpin, seem tame and unimaginative.