Elektra Review

by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)
January 14th, 2005

ELEKTRA
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2

ELEKTRA plays like a third-rate knock off of HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS by someone who has heard about HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS but has never actually seen it. The best that can be said of the movie is that it's better than DAREDEVIL from which was spun off.

The obtuse plot concerns Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), a superhero contract killer who discovers that she has a heart of gold. Sent to kill a family consisting of Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic), a handsome single dad, and Abby (Kirsten Prout), Mark's secretly talented 13-year-old daughter, Elektra instead ends up spending the rest of the movie protecting them from The Hand. Don't ask. The whole film cries out for a two word review of "Who cares?"

Although the film, based on comic book characters, has visual panache to spare, its appearance is far from enough to save it. The film is padded with so many needless flashbacks that they eventually put your brain on autopilot, as you keep being forced to double back to the same silly bedroom sequence when Elektra was a child. And don't even get me started on Elektra's ridiculous red outfit that looks like a parody of an exercise outfit from Victoria's Secret.

When Abby cries out to Elektra, "I don't want to stay here!" I knew exactly how she felt.

ELEKTRA runs too long even at just 1:37. It is rated PG-13 for "action violence" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up.

My son Jeffrey, age 15, who is normally a fan of this genre, gave ELEKTRA just ** 1/2. Although he said he liked it, most of his comments were negative, ranging from uneven pacing to too much time spent on emotional issues.

The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, January 14, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.

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