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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
One
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Deleted scenes, 'Elektra Incarnations'
documentary, 'The Making Of Elektra' featurette, Trailers, Inside
Look at 'The Fantastic Four'
HAVING been killed off in Ben Affleck's Daredevil,
cinema fans might be wondering how on earth Elektra could have
happened upon a franchise all of her own.
They may still be pondering that question come the end of the
movie too, given the lack of life that permeates through Rob (X-Files/Reign
of Fire) Bowman's disappointing movie.
Elektra isn't so much terrible, as a terrifice waste of potential
- a film that promises much, but delivers very little.
That it comes from the Marvel stable merely adds to the overall
feeling of being let down.
Having been resurrected by Terence Stamp's blind martial arts
master, Stick, Elektra (Jennifer Garnder) exists as an assassin,
detached from the world and desperate only to carry out her next
job.
The movie opens with one such assassination (with Jason Isaacs
being the unfortunate victim), before Elektra reluctantly agrees
to take on another job - in this case, offing a single father
and his daughter (in the form of ER's Goran Visnjic and Kirsten
Prout).
For Elektra, however, the hit marks a watershed in her life and
for no apparent reason she decides to act as a protector to the
family, which subsequently places her on a collision path with
The Hand, a powerful syndicate whose members practice the dark
martial art of ninjitsu.
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The Hand, it seems, want to use Visnjic's
daughter for their own evil ends and dispatch young martial arts
master, Kirigi (Will Yun Lee), and his super-powered colleagues
to get her.
Yet so little in Elektra is properly explained that viewers will
have trouble caring whether they succeed or not, as there's simply
not enough back story or motivation to explain what is going on.
What's worse is that Elektra takes itself far too seriously with
Garner content to pout her way through proceedings without ever
looking as though she is enjoying herself (which is ridiculous,
really, given the revealing nature of her combat outfit).
Prout, too, comes across as too precocious to root for, while
Visnjic is given virtually nothing to do save for kissing Garner
on a couple of occasions and running whenever possible.
The villains, too, are curiously muted, lacking any sort of charisma
and, worse still, being discarded far too easily.
Hence, the likes of Tattoo (who derives his magical powers from
the animals engraved on his skin) and Typhoid (who kills whatever
she touches) are dealt with almost as quickly as they appear and
are never allowed any time to develop into worthy adversaries.
The tone of the film also feels uneven given that it exists in
dark territory, but feels as though it has been deliberately toned
down to appeal to younger audiences.
While the lack of even a suitably rousing finale renders it a
curiously flat experience.
Whether it will generate enough box office to provide Garner
with her own franchise seems highly doubtful given its poor US
performance; forcing one to ponder why anyone bothered in the
first place.
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