Elektra
makes a thud at the box office.
For every
X-Men
or
Spiderman
Marvel Films has produced, there is a
Punisher
or
Daredevil
, a poorly made mish-mash of recycled comic book stories and action movie clichés used to lure in the fanboy faithful only to send them home with their nerdy hearts in their hands.
And it is tempting to rant from that very perspective about the cinematic Elektra's failure to match her four-color-on-paper counterpart, but we'll spare you the geek hysterics. After
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all, it's not fair to judge a film based solely on its source material; a film must stand alone. If it can stand at all.
Elektra
finds Jennifer Garner reprising her role from the 2003
Daredevil
, who is her on-again, off-again, blind, crime-fighting paramour. Though killed in that film, Elektra is revived magically by Stick (Terrence Stamp), a blind sensei who moonlights as a pool shark. Elektra makes the most of her resurrection, becoming a red spandex-clad killer-for-hire. Her new career introduces her to Mark (Goran Visnjic) and his daughter Abby (Kirsten Prout) as targets for assassination. But when Elektra forms a bond with the two, she winds up as their defenders, protecting father and daughter from The Hand, a group of mystical ninjas who evaporate like video game villains when killed.
The film suffers from clunky pacing, opening with an action sequence that fizzles into a study of Elektra's OCD habits and traumatic childhood, giving Garner plenty of screen time to brood and gaze at her reflection with sad eyes and pouty lips. Complaining about character development might be the boring end of criticism, but watching the development
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of a character as flat as a comic book page leaves even the most sophisticated moviegoer begging for a brainless action scene (maybe even a few explosions).
When the action does come, we get a group of mean villains like Tattoo (Chris Ackerman), whose animal tattoos come to life and attack our heroine, and sword-wielding Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) whose arsenal also includes super speed. Unfortunately, these villains pose no threat to a character the audience already doesn't care about, leaving a lifeless husk of a film that can't even achieve the dubious mantle of an entertaining action movie.
Terrence Stamp, memorable to comic fans as Zod in
Superman II
, could have provided a touch of class to an otherwise cardboard cast, but instead appears as if he can't wait for the camera to stop rolling so he can go fire his agent. Though
Elektra
has failed to find its place among the ranks of great comic book movies, Marvel has a chance to redeem itself this summer with the release of
Fantastic Four
. For now though, dedicated fans, just as the Elektra of tragedy, will think only of revenge and wish this alias of an Elektra had stayed dead.
