Elektra DVD > Reviews > Lover, Assasain, Enigma

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Jennifer garner, Fight Scenes, Outfits, Baddies, Great Script, Not Your Usual Action Flick, Good DVD Package
Disadvantages:	Not Enough Action, To Keep Very Very Easily Bored People Happy

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Elektrafying

Ever since I first watched Daredevil, I was really impressed with both the character of Elektra and Jennifer Garner playing her. The whole movie was screaming out for an Elektra spin off, but when she was killed off at the end, the future looked bleak, but alas, here our heroine is again!

After the events of Daredevil, Elektra's lifeless body was collected by Stick, a master in the ancient arts. After a lot of work, incantations and magic, our heroine is brought back to life. Life will never be the same for her or anyone she knows….

A couple of years later, she is an assassin, killing for money. We have already seen her slaying a target. She boasts an impressive array of powers, leaping, kicking, stabbing and running her way through out the whole exercise. While clearing away the evidence of her massacre, McCabe her agent walks in carrying a massive bag of cash. He asks her whether she wants another job, offering A LOT of money two hundred thousand infact, at first, she is reluctant to do it, as she is pretty run down, but later agrees.

We learn that Elektra is plagued by nightmares, of her mother's brutal and timely death, and also when she was brought back, her previous troubles re emerge. When a kid, Elektra suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and since her resurrection, the disease has come back with a vengeance.

For the job, Elektra is living in a spacious, but cold apartment over looking the sea. Again, while swimming in it, sudden memories emerge of her father making her swim in a pool, for hours on end. When, she stops swimming, she goes back into her apartment and notices a shadow running along the corridor. She instantly assumes that it is a robber and hunts it down, but when she finds the culprit it is only a thirteen year old girl named Abby.

When Elektra and Abby meet again, Elektra is invited into her home for Christmas dinner. But when the house is invaded by demonic ninja's the friendly meting quickly turns into a fight for survival. Elektra has to ask herself, whether she is going to go along with her job, or help, these seemingly helpless friends.

The Hand is an evil organisation, who has been around for centuries. The only thing that could possible stop them is a special power that possesses one woman alone. As you can imagine The Hand, don't really want her to live much longer as they don't want her to have a chance at killing them. The demons that invaded Abby and her father's house are members of The Hand.

It quickly becomes apparent that Abby is not all she seems, and Elektra is going to have a hard time protecting her. The Hand latest assassins to try and defeat Elektra are Typhoid Mary, a women with the kiss of death (literally) Tattoo a man whose tattoos are really, really realistic, Stone, the heavy weight wrestler and the leader of the gang Kirigi a uber strong Japanese warrior.

What is Abby's deadly secret? What will happen to Elektra? Will she be able to bring The Hand to its knees? Does Elektra's tragic past have a link to her immediate future? And will Elektra be able to get out of that super tight red leather suit? You will have to pop down to your local cinema to find out.

I am a fan, of anything Jennifer Garner does. I think that her work on Alias is truly amazing, and in 13 Going On 30 she was instantly lovable, but it was when she first donned her black suit in Daredevil, that I first thought she was perfectly cast in a role. She does seem to ooze all the sexiness that the character needs, as well as being warmly affectionate and perfectly moody and glum. Also she has the body for such a physical role. I think her performance in Elektra is better than her one in Daredevil, as her character is allowed a lot more screen time. As an audience, we delve really deep into the whole persona and history of her character and Garner relishes that. It really did secure my belief that she is the best actress for the role. Garner turns herself into a bad ass heroine will the click of a finger and perfectly transforms into the role she is cast as. What was a glimmer of hope in the dark, and dismissed Daredevil, is now a fully blown flame in Elektra.

As Abby Miller, Kirsten Prout is perfect. As her character is meant to be basically a reflection of Elektra, Prout plays her role perfectly, obviously taking a lot of inspiration from Mrs Garner. She is at times a little bit whiny, but I think that was an attempt from Prout to show that even though her character is out of this world, she still needs all the things that a normal teenage girl does. I think that this is a good performance, but Garner shines more than any other person in this flick.

Bob Saap, Natassia Malthe, Chris Ackerman and Will Yun Lee are all good as the main baddies of the piece. Although none of them, have that big a parts they all seemed to mould into their characters well, each one showing up most professionalism and they are all well, cast.

The acting is all very good. A brilliant piece of casting in Jennifer Garner and some good performances from Kirsten Prout and Will Yun Lee, make this a thoroughly enjoyable watch.

Okay, lets start off with the bad point first. I can see why the critics didn't like it. It is a mixed up film. It doesn't know whether to be a full throttle action adventure or a quiet little relationship drama. I personally thought this was a good thing, as it allowed it to not just be a mindless fight scene. But for people who only want a music video stylee action flick I can see that it may be a little bit boring.

I can honestly say that I think this is a lot better than Daredevil, script wise. At least Zak Penn tries to delve as deep into Elektra's history as possible. I thought that it was written very well, especially at the beginning as it doesn't dive into action straight away, it lays down the rules, of the fight between The Hand and just about everybody else. I also thought it was fuelled by emotion, bringing in the aspect of Elektra's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder was a clever move as it buries the fear, that maybe her illness will stop her from winning a fight, straight away.

Rob Bowman, the driving force behind X files. Directs this film, with a lot of vision, and establishes, again emotion into the movie straight away, as he always plays on the audiences minds. I wasn't ever sure, what was going to happen next, and that goes as credit to him. He obviously has a talent for drawing good performances out of his performers. He brings in good pace, and always makes it a treat to watch.

Visually Elektra is very clever. Using colour very well. For instance a lovely touch was when Elektra reveals her tight red suit, and all this long draping white cotton swirls menacingly around her. Always establishing a fear, that something unexpected could happen at any minute. The special effects are above average, but not stunning. Again a nice touch, was when instead of their being blood in the baddies, a scary green midst emerges in its place. (Probably a financial ploy, as it allows the film to stay as a 12a rating)

The fights scenes, although there aren't that many of them, are quite breathtaking, and very fast paced. The choppy editing adds to this fact, but it also helps that everybody involved are very fit and obviously went through a lot of training.

The soundtrack is wickedly rocky. The most memorable song being the exciting, yet thought provoking In the Light by Full Blown Rose. All the dirty guitar music added to the films pace and fight scenes.
I went to see Elektra with six other people. Five of us loved it and one of us was undecided. His main argument was that the ending was 'stupid, and soppy' I personally thought that it was quite a emotional, and fulfilling ending, which although again not thrilling, left me feeling happier about the world.

I thought that Elektra, although not extremely thrilling was one of the best comic book adaptations in a long time. Jennifer Garner was perfect, visually it was quite exciting, and a rocking soundtrack makes it a really big treat. I loved it.

I bought the Elektra DVD the day it came out as I was shopping in town and I am thoroughly impressed with both the presentation and amount of bonus features that were incorporated into the package. The artwork on the front is eye catching and looks great with other films you may own and a lot of thought was put into the extras…..

When you first turn the disk on you are greeted with a rather stylish menu that shows off all the things that make the film great, style but with a lot of substance. The first extras I jumped to were the deleted scene's (there has been much hype about the scene with Ben Affleck as Mathew Murdock) and this segment was good and tied the film in with it's predecessor…… but Ben Affleck really was as stiff as a board. The other two deleted scenes show that the actual film wasn't shown in the correct chronological order, but both were fairly dull and wouldn't of added to the film.

The Making Of Elektra is your pretty standard stuff, it mainly centres around the martial arts and physical training that the whole cast had to become masters in with such a short time. I was impressed to learn that Jennifer Garner did all her own stunts though.

The real meat of the package though is the hour long documentary on the origins of Elektra and her transaction from her many comic tales as the themes became darker and more complex. Frank Miller (the creator of Elektra and Sin City) is interviewed and in my opinion shows why he is famed for his Adult comics that deal with real issues in extraordinary ways, he is renowned for the dark undertones and immense characterisations that fill all his work. Then we learn about the crew of the franchise and how the characters look/attitude/behaviour changed throughout its long run. This really is a thoroughly enjoyable documentary.

You Can Buy Elektra from Amazon.co.uk for £10.99 ASIN: B0007RUSOE

Thank You All For Reading Jay : )
 

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