Movie Info
Movie Name: Elektra
Studio: Marvel Enterprises
Genre(s): Comic Book/Action/Adventure/Martial Arts
Release Date(s): January 14, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Elektra vs sheets!!!
Elektra (Jennifer Garner) is living a life as an assassin. She is alone and chooses to live that way. When her handler McCabe (Colin Cunningham) orders her to take break, Elektra goes to the remote island to wait for her next mission where she meets Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his young daughter Abby (Kirsten Prout). Unfortunately, Elektra learns that they are her next target, but instead of assassinating them, Elektra decides to protect them. Now facing off against the Hand, Elektra learns that Abby is the girl of legend and defending her could determine the fate of the world.
Directed by Rob Bowman, Elektra was a spin-off sequel to the 2003 Daredevil film starring Ben Affleck. While Daredevil was a moderate success, Elektra was met with negative criticism and box-office returns that matched the epic comic book failure Howard the Duck.
Aren’t I mysterious?
I was a bit lukewarm on Daredevil though I didn’t hate it as much as some. One of the high points of the film was Elektra who unfortunately was transformed from an exotic Mediterranean girl to Jennifer Garner who is more of an all-American girl. While she worked in Daredevil, Elektra was too much of Elektra combined with a horrible story.
The movie is just goofy. It probably needed to be a very hard core movie to be enjoyable and instead it goes for the safe PG-13 rating. Elektra at her best was a rather gritty character…at her worst (like the bad ’90s series) was a neutered. Here, you get the neutered, less deadly Elektra battling ninjas that despite deadly powers seem rather easily dispatched. Plus, you get an annoying almost sidekick like girl.
A tattoo for every occasion
Jennifer Garner hasn’t always been one of my favorite actresses. She has had her moments in movies like Juno and The Dallas Buyers Club, but I didn’t like her in her breakout role in Alias. The rest of the actors really don’t get much of a chance to shine. Terrance Stamp’s Stick is mysterious but not used well and other characters like Kirigi (Will Yun Lee), a version of Typhoid Mary (Natassia Malthe), Stone (Bob Sapp), and Tattoo (Chris Ackerman) turn out to not be as deadly as they should be. The opening assassination features Jason Isaacs in a small role as the target. Kirsten Prout as the chain swinging “promised one” teen is weak and her father Goran Visnjic is barely a character. Ben Affleck filmed a Daredevil cameo which was cut from the final film (but can be seen on the DVD).
This movie just took a turn…Bound 2: Superheroes
The visuals of the movie are also very so-so. The movie relies heavily on flow-y imagery with leaves, sheets, etc. The imagery gets redundant and also it isn’t helped by the weak storyline and character development.
Elektra just isn’t worth your time. It is one of those bad early movies in the comic book boom which threatened to destroy it like both Fantastic Four films, Ghost Rider, and the Punisher films which also threatened the future of superhero movies. This movie effectively killed the Daredevil line, but Daredevil and later Elektra were resurrected in Daredevil series on Netflix.
Related Links:
Daredevil—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
