Movie Stills:

Director Mark Steven Johnson has brilliantly crafted two worlds with Daredevil, the world of the night and that of the day.  And unlike Tim Burton, Johnson has given his two worlds two distinct feels, creating a highly stylistic, layered film.  The daytime scenes are most always light, sometimes funny, but always with a dark, tragic underpinning.  King Pin's business in the light is all smiles, with shady, sometimes fatal deals lying under the table.  The playground fight scene between Elektra and Matt Murdock is pure fun, possibly some of the most delightful on-screen comic book action developed so far.  Yet even that is shadowed by the momentary flashes of struggle in the film's opening tracking shot.  It is not sunny out, but it is not all dark either.

Affleck's Murdock/Daredevil is momentarily pulled from this world of violence by a woman, Jennifer Garner's Elektra.  I am completely taken with Garner.  Never before have I seen a woman who carries such screen presence and natural charm and grace, with the possible exception of Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly.  With every smile, Garner pulls the film to a new level of accomplishment from which it never falls.  Her voice, her looks of happiness and pain, bring emotion to a part that could easily be played blandly, for unnecessary laughs or damsel-in-distress-dilemma, much like Kim Bassinger in Batman.  But Garner soars above all that, and I look forward to seeing other projects from her once she escapes the mandibles of television.

At the heart of Daredevil is the old story of good and evil, and thankfully, its resolution is not definitive.  While Elektra begins to pull Matt away from the life of vengeance, she, too, soon finds a similar path when her world of what should be good is taken away.  Even Matt's faithful Catholic confessions do not provide the answer.  In the end, the film concerns how one, anyone, should carry oneself in a world in which we encounter this evil.  And the answer is to try to be the good guy.  Or, to quote a man who in other reviews for this film has yet to be mentioned, Spike Lee says to do the right thing.  (Pay close attention to the small but important jab at the media in this film--it is possible for media to be heroes, but not necessarily by reporting.)  How we interact with others in this world determines what is good and evil, and if we chose the best way, maybe one day we'll see.