Elektra (2005) - She’s aliiiiive!

Yes, despite *sort of* being bumped off in ‘Daredevil’ Elektra returns for her own self-titled ‘spin-off’ movie.  This, in itself, is odd.  For a start, Daredevil (featuring a ‘blind’ Ben Affleck clad in red rubber, also an image which caused many a trauma in cinema-goers since witnessing it) didn’t exactly set the box offices alight in the way its producers hoped it would.  So, one wonders why they decided to green-light a (semi) sequel.

I’ve never read any of the comic books this film is based on, so I can’t really say how faithful it remains.  But I do know that Jennifer Garner does look better in her costume that her off-screen hubby Ben did (male perspective only), but a costume alone does not really warrant an entire ninety minute movie.  Here we meet Elektra as she’s forced to confront her demons and also protect a single father and his teenage daughter (convenient ‘love interest’ if ever there was one). 

So, expect some martial arts fighting as she whacks one ninja on the head after the next, plus a kind of plot twist that doesn’t really affect the overall story in any way.  About halfway through the film, the fight scenes start using ‘special moves’ instead of just punches and kicks.  Yes, it adds a little something extra to the constant fight scenes, but the CGI effects aren’t that great as someone launches yet another computer-added smoking fireball to their punches and kicks.

Elektra was released just before Marvel basically cornered the market on superheroes movies with their ‘Avengers’ franchise and its predecessors.  Therefore, it’s not half as much fun as any of them.  Then again... it was also released before Christopher Nolan did his Batman trilogy, so it’s also not as dark and menacing as then.  It kind of sits somewhere in the middle in that big empty hole filled with superhero movies which, despite being okay, never really amounted to what they could have been.

You can basically have Elektra on in the background while you potter around your living room.  You’ll still be able to follow it and can just tune in for the good bits.

6/10 May just keep you awake if Freddy Kruger was haunting your nights