Film Review: Elektra (2005)

SYNOPSIS:

Elektra, once a student of Kimagure, a force for good, who’s masters can see the future and even bring people back from the dead, is now a paid assassin. The enemy, the force for evil, at this time is known as the hand, whose members use the dark arts. In this tale Elektra is given an assignment to kill a man and his daughter. However when the time comes to complete the mission she is unable to. The daughter is also being sought by the Hand, for she is known as a treasure that can tip the scales in favor of either good or evil. The Hand, who have the policy of “If we can’t have her then no one can”, send their own people to kill her. Elektra then allies herself with the Millers and helps to protect them from the Hand. The journey to the climax, the ultimate battle between good and evil for the treasure, has some interesting revelations, heading for a finale with an interesting twist.

REVIEW: 

Coming off the heels of the the film DareDevil in which Elektra is the love interest of Matt Murdock and dies in the end, Elektra the film is a slightly re-arranged spin off featuring only the actor Jennifer Garner as an assassin for hire. Her bright red leather outfit, highly accurate martial arts skills and ability to control her trademark Sai’s are all symbols and traits which make her a force to be reckoned with.

Though “this” Elektra has a past, that is told in great detail leading her up to her current occupation. As a former student of her master Stick (Terence Stamp), she was asked at an early age to leave and not return. We are told that she possesses an internal anger and hate that does not fit in with in the teachings of the Kimagure. Though we also learn that this was also a test for her to find her internal goodness on her own accord.

At current, she is paid extremely well for her services which usually means a quick assassination to the target of her benefactor. Her business associate McCabe (Colin Cunningham) sets up the deals while she delivers the blows. When she is sent out to a far away location to assassinate a father and his child, she begins to lose her demeanor and ability to carry out the task. Knowing full well, the result of not delivering the kill, she is faced with protecting them from the follow up assassins.

A larger picture is brought into light, as a benevolent group who call themselves “The Hand” are sent out to also target the 2. We are told that the young girl Abbey Miller (Kirsten Prout) is actually a great warrior known as the “Treasure”. She possesses the ability to threaten “The Hand’s” power if she is not recruited for their cause. Elektra discovers this after a confrontation with the group who consists of a band of super villain type characters. These are as follows: Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) one who possesses a surreal factor of speed. Typhoid (Natassia Malthe) a bringer of death and disease to who or whatever she touches. Stone (Bob Sapp), super strong resistant to bullets, attacks and weapons. Tattoo (Chris Ackerman) an oddly tattooed man who can send his images out into the world on will. its this team of warriors who challenge Elektra for the prize of taking Abbey under their wing.

It becomes a supernatural battle that is heavily FX driven but very entertaining to watch. One is reminded very quickly on the dynamics of the X-men series. Elektra, the film was met with varying amounts of criticism in the industry. I believe there is a certain amount of reviewers who just have simply tired of superhero movies …however don’t let that discourage you. This movie is action packed, slick to watch and really adds a nice addition to the modern superhero films collection.

I’m not sure of the disappointment as this one was quickly one to add to my favorites superhero films. Jennifer Garner is perfect as Elektra who is strong willed, agile, confident and full of conviction. An interesting trait they added to her nature is a habit with OCD and her need for perfection in arrangements. I found myself wanting more after the film had ended, maybe wanting to see more of the villains attack skills which gave the film that “cool to watch” comics book sense.

There is some interesting facts surrounding this film that include a scene where Daredevil makes brief appearance but this was cut from the film. Though marketers chose to try and tie the film with the X-men series at first only making the Daredevil reference 1 week before it opened. The reason as mentioned was the low level response to Daredevil.

It was reported that in interview Jennifer Garner disapproved of the film and called it terrible only reprising her role due to contract requirements. Whether that feeling was felt by critics or not, its probably a good guess that there won’t be a follow up sequel, which is too bad as its a bad ass little film. The film is currently being re-released on Blue-Ray which includes a hefty dose of extras.