This is a confusing and confused movie. My expectations were low to begin with, as it is a combination sequel and spin-off of 2003’s Daredevil. Daredevil itself was underwhelming and uninspired but between modest gains at the box office and Jennifer Garner’s popularity from the hit show Alias, this movie was destined to be made. With alterations to the main characters back-story and a poorly thought out attempt at several layers of misdirection, Elektra fails to impress.
Jennifer Garner is a beautiful woman, which appeals to young men. Lots of martial arts action, violence, and high-energy stunt work also appeals to this demographic. Banking on a pretty face and some flashy stunts are poor choices for the foundation of a movie. I wasn’t able to determine if this film is actually based off any of the Elektra comics, but considering how very little praise it received from comic book enthusiasts (or anyone else for that matter) I would venture to guess that the story was written just for the film.
I have little to say about the acting because it was actually pretty good for a comic book movie. However, whatever good comes out of the acting is undone by the illogical choices and poor dialog given to the cast. They do their best with it but even they seem to be unsure of their words. This makes the whole package feel awkward and pushes it into the realm of silliness at times.
While the protagonists are sufficiently developed, though veiled behind the layers of misdirection, the antagonists are treated like disposable toy soldiers. They serve their purpose by creating a threat to Elektra and her goal, thereby acting as the impetus for a number of flashy displays of stunt work and CGI. They look mean and act mean, but their back-story and an explanation of how or why they have their supernatural powers is not explained. The only known motivation is that they work for the bad guy and like to hurt people. They’re not very deep, which is a shame. I tend to enjoy multifaceted, morally ambiguous villains.
All in all, the fight scenes go overboard and become the focus of the film. It really seems like the plot takes a backseat for about an hour and is used as a thin ploy to move between fight scenes. Then there is the hint at the end that the events of the entire film were part of a larger misdirection meant to teach Elektra some larger lesson in her ongoing training. This serves only to confound me further, because that implies the higher up good guys risked Elektra helping the bad guys at first. It’s all too much for anyone but comic book fanboys, and even they didn’t respond to this film favorably.
This is a confusing and confused movie. My expectations were low to begin with, as it is a combination sequel and spin-off of 2003’s Daredevil. Daredevil itself was underwhelming and uninspired but between modest gains at the box office and Jennifer Garner’s popularity from the hit show Alias, this movie was destined to be made. With alterations to the main characters back-story and a poorly thought out attempt at several layers of misdirection, Elektra fails to impress.
