Review of Elektra

Introduction

This movie, following on from `Daredevil`s mediocre take at the box-office, quite possibly should have been give a wide-berth at the pre-production / development stage. But the studios were unable to resist the possibility of creating a new super-hero franchise with all the rewards that this can bring in terms of associated merchandising and spin-offs. Add a sprinkling of `House of Flying Daggers` and `Hero`, as well as Jennifer Garner strapped into a skin-tight red-outfit and surely all the ingredients are here for a great movie…

Maybe - but this is far from a great movie. To be fair - it`s not a complete turkey either.

For comic-book movie fans with short-term memory loss, you might recall that Elektra met an untimely death in `Daredevil`. This movie ignores all references to that relationship, though hints at her resurrection by white-haired kung-fu guru `Stick` (played appallingly by wooden Terence Stamp who seems to have given up the will to act).

Jennifer Garner returns in the `Elektra` role and seems well cast, despite the constant, almost unnatural lippy-pout that is her visual trademark. She`s pretty convincing as the confused, bitterly mixed-up super-hero - and she certainly has the physical prowess to handle some fairly impressive action sequences.

The film takes far too long to get going, with an immensely confusing narrative, and doesn`t really get going until 30 minutes in when hired assassin Elektra finds herself on a remote island on a mission to kill a 13 year old-girl and her father - Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his daughter Abby (Kirsten Prout). Unable to carry out the task, she turns the mission down and then sets about protecting the targets from replacement assassins sent to complete the job.

What follows is an action-packed chase where Elektra fights off a variety of foes, each more powerful than the last. Many questions arise and very few answers are provided but, far from being enigmatic (like in `The Matrix` for example), the movie becomes just plain annoying and feels frighteningly disjointed for a film commanding a reasonable budget.

The movie looks and sounds great - but is confusing and cliché-ridden, which must have been a bitter disappointment to those involved in `Elektra`s creation, like Frank Miller for example.

Video

This transfer is as good as it`s going to get for DVD. Fantastic definition, beautiful reproduction that really shows off some wonderfully lit and filmed sequences to great effect.

Audio

Wow! Both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks are jaw-droppingly good with incredibly busy surround separation and mega deep bass. The movie also benefits from a fantastically evocative score that works brilliantly here.

Features

Well, what an unexpected treat! The real bonus amongst the extras here for Marvel fans has got to be the hour-long documentary that digs around behind the scenes at Marvel HQ to see how the `Elektra` franchise was born and how it continues to evolve.

Frank Miller, enjoying huge success with `Sin City` currently, kicks off the discussions and proves to be a likable if slightly dark character, who was amongst the first to write and draw his comic creations, enabling him to develop a unique and influential style that owed more to movie storyboarding than traditional comic book writing.

It`s curious that `Elektra` was initially created as a suitably heroic girlfriend for `Daredevil`. She started off life as a `bad girl who enjoys being bad.` Great stuff - though barely a mention of the movie!

The opposite could apply to `The Making of Elektra` which is not so great and focuses entirely on the film. Running at 12 minutes, it`s standard fare, made up almost exclusively of sound bites. Most notable is that Jennifer G. did most the stunts herself - which, once you`ve seen the movie is an impressive enough achievement.

There are a few deleted scenes, mostly cut to retain a PG-13 rating, and one of these has commentary (almost in the form of an apology) from Director Rob Bowman. These go a little way to explaining the confusing storyline and all the loose ends though surely Bowman himself must carry the buck for failing to keep it coherent.

Conclusion

`Elektra` may not go down in history as the finest comic book to screen adaptation though it does have its moments. It`s a little confusing to start with and might lose some of its younger viewers on the way before the action kicks in (after 30 minutes or so). In truth, even once the film gets going, the narrative remains a bit confusing and there are many loose ends remaining when the end credits role.

Whilst Jennifer Garner is an interesting choice for the lead role, having already appeared in the guise in `Daredevil`, she`s badly let down by Terence Stamp who may look the business as her `Kung Fu - The TV Series` style instructor, `Stick` but who turns in a performance that is so wooden as to be irredeemably toe-curling.

The action is all superbly realised though, with great effects and some positively athletic moves, and the soundtrack can really only be described as awesome with the most thorough workout my surround system has ever had to contend with. There`s also a fine brooding score that adds menace and atmosphere throughout and it could be argued that this pretty much saves the day.

Some may find the pace of the fight scenes so quick as to be almost comical, which make old school Bruce Lee movies look positively snail-like in comparison. It`s clearly a film that borrows heavily from, not just the recent comic book art that inspired the film in the first instance, but computer game sequences where extreme angles and cuts are perfectly acceptable and which are used to clever effect here.

I suppose it`s worth mentioning that I ended up viewing the film twice and enjoyed it more the second time as I knew that the good bits were never that far away.

The extras on the disc, covered earlier in this review, really do make this a worthwhile experience for comic fans, though others may want to rent before they buy.