Fans of the comic hero Daredevil will be kept in suspense until next
week before the fate of the movie, which was banned by the Malaysian Censorship
Board on Feb 11, is known.
The film's distributor Twentieth Century Fox had submitted an appeal
to the board to review its decision.
“It is up to the 20 people who sit on the Appeal Board now to decide
on Daredevil, whether it is good enough for public viewing.
“They are academicians, religious personalities, lawyers, individuals
from all races and other professionals.
“We have to get consensus from every one before making a decision,”
said the board secretary Lukeman Saaid in a phone interview yesterday.
He said members of the Appeal Board would normally review banned movies
on Mondays and Thursdays.
“Only one movie will be reviewed a day and the result will be made
known a day after the movie is reviewed.
“With the Kuala Lumpur World Film Festival movies being screened
at the respective cinemas, it is difficult to get a vacant cinema to review
these banned movies. We are looking at next week for a suitable day,”
said Lukeman.
Films which were usually banned were those that went against the board's
guidelines for containing excessive violence and sexual material or elements
which could create chaos in the community, he said.
“Daredevil has one of these elements and that was the reason for
the ban.
“We have to review the movie again to make sure if only some portions
of the film require censorship or that the whole movie has to be banned.”
The ban disrupted the promotions by radio station red104.9, one of the
stations promoting the film through ticket giveaways and merchandise.
The storyline centres on Matthew Murdock (played by Ben Affleck) who
is left blind when he was hit by a radioactive isotope while saving a
man's life.
Murdock is a lawyer by day and a “vigilante” by night. Although
he loses his sight, Murdock acquires a secret radar-like ability.
Stan Lee created Daredevil in 1964 following the success of his other
creations: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, X-Men and Avengers.
