Elektra DVD > Reviews > You Really Kill People For A Living?

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very weak
Characters / Performances	Unmemorable
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Unmemorable

Advantages:	It's only an hour and a half long .  Special Effects and fight scenes .  Jennifer Garner in the Elektra outfit
Disadvantages:	The Script was simply awful .  The acting was well below par, Could have maybe used a big name baddie

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Having made a name for herself in Alias, Jennifer Garner was looking to expand her career. So in an attempt to really get herself known she agreed to appear in this spin off from the comic book Daredevil. It was a comic book spin off of its own and now the film has followed suit after the limited success of Daredevil in 2003. Having been left for dead in Daredevil it made me wonder how they were going to magic Garner's character back to life.

It was literally magiced back to life as well. She was resurrected using the ancient art of Kimaguri, I'm still wondering exactly what it is, and set on a new path by her former mentor Stick. She can't obey the rules set down by him and as a result he tells her to leave. So without any real direction she becomes an assassin for hire, but when she's hired by The Hand to kill a man and his daughter, she falls for him and decides to help them rather than kill them.

The Hand still wants him dead and as Elektra has failed to complete the job they send someone else to do it for them. So now Elektra must protect him and his daughter and prevent the hand from getting to them and killing them. So they go on the run and Elektra turns to her old mentor for help, but will he help her? Can she stop The Hand? Well you will have to watch it and find out.

I'll admit that I didn't go into this film with high expectations. Off the back of Daredevil I suspected I'd find this to be just as bad as Daredevil. In fact I was very wrong it was even worse. It seems to fit into the comic book to Hollywood role call of awful films and somewhere around the bottom rung. There are elements taken from the more successful elements of Blade and X Men and tried to blend them into the Elektra style. I'm not familiar with the comics, but the story was so disjointed and uninteresting that it in no way encouraged me to look out for them.

The film is made by long time X Files director Rob Bowman, which initially made me think I'd enjoy it. I quite quickly found the opposite and the direction didn't really help to uncomplicated the story. There were too many needless flashbacks within the plot, where one would have done and this detracted from the effectiveness of the film. I couldn't help feeling if all the flash backs had been rolled into one at the beginning; it would have made it easier to follow. I also thought it should have had some mention at least back to Elektra's death in Daredevil and not just her reincarnation.

While the plot and direction didn't help the film, the casting had to be the final nail in its coffin. I'm quite happy to admit that Garner does look quite stunning in the Elektra outfit and that's probably what kept me watching. Her acting ability, however seemed to be severely lacking in a lot of ways. She didn't really suit the role in a feature length film and might have been the wrong choice for the original Daredevil. The rest of the cast were pretty much a selection of new actors and unknowns.

It meant that Garner was the only star appeal and I think this also makes the film suffer. The head of The Hand, if you pardon the expression, was Will Yun Lee, who I've only ever seen in a Bond film. His performance was pretty average and never really made the role his own. He was good at the martial arts aspect but that was about all he brought to the film. I think a well known baddie would have helped a little but the script meant the film was beyond saving before it even started.

The only pluses that could be drawn from the film were the special effects. It was visually quite a stunning film and all the special effects were done incredibly well. The fight scenes were well choreographed as well and that at least made parts of the film a little bit better than the rest of it. Good fight scenes and special effects are not however good enough to stop the film falling flat on its face. It seems a shame to have wasted such good effects on such a shoddy film.

For fans of the comics this might be a good idea and may even appeal to them. For me as an introduction to Elektra it's not encouraged me and I'll be avoiding any future films like the plague. I really do believe that Garner was the wrong choice for the lead role and that contributed to the overall failure to the movie. It was enjoyable in small parts but my interest wandered a few times and that affected my overall opinion. If you like comic book films give it a try, but I warn you in advance not to expect a decent film.