Elektra

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By Todd Karella
January 14, 2005

Original Story Synopsis:

Movie-Pix Best Guess:

Reprising her role from the superhero film Daredevil Jennifer Garner once again plays Elektra.

Revived and trained, Elektra refuses to commit an assassination and finds herself at odds with the Order of the Hand

Daredevil was an average film and does not deserve a spinoff.

Jennifer Garner fans will be happy to see her prance around in a skin-tight outfit, but other than that the film is not a must see.

Best Guess Results:

Movie-Pix was right on the money as this film failed in nearly all aspects. The special effects were the only bright spots in the film.

The acting was robotic, the story average and the action too few and far between.

And besides the opening minute of the film and the very end, there wasn't any of Jennifer prancing around in that red hot outfit.

Rated PG-13

~There's just no spark~

Stick that chest out

   How could a film starring TV favorite Jennifer Gardner kicking butt as superhero Elektra possibly go wrong?
   At least that's what film execs who decided to spin-off her character from 2003's box office failure Daredevil must have been thinking. Unfortunately, they were very wrong.
   While the film wasn't terrible, it just had no feeling to it. There was very little emotion in the performances and a lot of the background information was just missing from the story.
   When we last saw Elektra she had died during a rooftop battle in the Daredevil film. Of course it

wouldn't be much of a movie if she hadn't been brought back to life. However, it would have been nice to know how and why she was given a second chance other than a simple flashback about a mysterious kung-fu master named Stick (Terance Stamp) who gave her life back.
Elektra ends up training with the master for an unknown amount of time until there is nothing left that he can teach her and she is asked to leave. Even though he is the leader of the forces of good in the film he obviously did not teach her anything about morals as she ends up becoming the world's greatest assassin.
After finishing off a particularly bad individual, she finds herself with a new contract containing some unusual directions. Letting the monetary value of this new job override her better judgment, she heads off to a lakeside cabin where she must wait for several days to receive her target information.

As she waits for the paperwork to arrive she ends up running into a teenage girl named Abby (Kirsten Prout) and her father Mark (Goran Visnjic) staying in the cabin next door.
Abby even sets Elektra up with her father as she invites her over for Christmas dinner without telling him.

Of course it works, as the two fall for one another. It's a big surprise when suddenly the two are kissing, since Jennifer plays her character with no emotion and walks around like a zombie the entire film.
   The next morning Elektra receives her instructions and finds that Mark and Abby are the two she has been contracted to kill.
   Having already bonded with the family, she decides it's best to leave, that is until she notices a couple of suspicious individuals on the way towards the cabin. Arriving back at the cabin before the attackers she manages to rescue them just in the nick of time.
   While Elektra is in the same category of super powers as her pursuers, she lets her friend McCabe (Colin Cunningham), armed only with a shotgun, face them as she escapes through a tunnel with Abby and Mark. Its pretty obvious who gets killed in that fight.
   As the three fugitives try to escape Elektra realizes there is more to the story than what Abby has told her. There is a bigger destiny for Abby in the grand design as she is The Treasure, something that's never explained other than she is a natural martial artist and both good and evil are looking to bring her to their side.
   Even with this extra twist, Elektra is having flashbacks about the night her mother was killed. Coincidentally it ends up being Kinji (Will Yun Lee), one of the assassins now chasing them .
   Now there is only one resolution to the film, the two must have a long drawn out fight sequence. The fight really isn't that good as it takes place in her family home where the drop cloths covering the furniture fly about for no apparent reason other than to obscure the action, or to make a last sudden attempt at imitating a Wuxia film.

The film could have been improved tremendously with some simple explanations. Why could Elektra hear McCabe out in the street loading his gun, yet ended up being surprised several times during the film when people would sneak up on her? Who were the super villains, where did they get their powers and why did they go poof in a cloud of yellow gas when they died? Why did Elektra become an assassin? Why during the final battle could she not use her super quickness when she had been using it the entire film?
With all of the confusion and unanswered questions, the film came across as several stories haphazardly stitched together making up an incoherent film.

Movie-Pix Hit or Miss

Are we supposed to act yet?

It's just a little Tattoo

Flying-V Formation

Everyone wants to kiss Jen

Isn't she terrifying??