ANALYSIS: ELEKTRA is a Hollywood rip-off of Hong Kong action movies. The action scenes may be great, but the rest of the
script still needs a lot of work. The movie only has the hotness of Jennifer Garner, some fine actors, and many great action
sequences going for it. The villains are wasted in this movie and Typhoid Mary is nothing like her much more exciting counterpart
in the movies. Director Rob Bowman tries to make the best of it, but the script ultimately sinks ELEKTRA and just makes me
want to go watch the superior DAREDEVIL Director's Cut again. I wish they returned the script to sender and wrote a script
worthy of the Elektra character (unless there is a superior Director's Cut lying around waiting to be released later on).
The movie starts with Elektra (Jennifer Garner) as an assassin. It's the only thing she is good at since Stick (Terrance
Stamp) showed her the door and refused to teach her anymore. She is fueled by hate and anger to the point of exhaustion. Her
latest assignment brings her to a remote area of the USA (unspoiled by big cities where people can get away from all the noise).
She is supposed to kill Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his daughter Abby. Elektra can't kill them and tries to protect them
from a group of assassins known as The Hand.
ELEKTRA starts out great, but the script and mediocre villains start to tear ELEKTRA apart with only the action sequences
to keep people glued to the very end. Jennifer Garner is sexy and deadly in that red costume that she wears. She energizes
the screen when she is in full kick-ass mode in any action scene. Too bad Jennifer did not have a worthwhile movie to feature
Elektra in. Hence that is the reason why ELEKTRA bombed at the box office in the USA.
VIDEO/AUDIO: ELEKTRA is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen (a separate FullScreen version is available). as usual,
the transfer is fantastic. Colors are bright and vivid. Look at how bright the red is on Elektra's costume and the green of
the trees. Blacks are solid. Image detail is sharp.
You can hear ELEKTRA in English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 5.1 DYTS, French Dolby Surround, or Spanish Dolby Surround with
the option of English or Spanish subtitles. Dialogue is sharp. Music and sound effects are a grand experience.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Three deleted scenes are included on the DVD (5 minutes in total). One is an alternate take on one of
the scenes in the movie, the second scene is a throwaway cameo by Ben Affleck, and the third scene is very interesting. The
MAKING OF ELEKTRA featurette starts out with 5 1/2 minutes of promotional fluff (with interviews with cast and director Rob
Bowman throughout in addition to clips from the movie) before going a little bit into the fights and Elektra's costume. It's
a little disappointing, but INSIDE THE EDITING ROOM is more disappointing as Rob Bowman does brief commentary on four scenes
before showing you the scenes (I think a director's audio commentary track would have been better). Also included among the
extras are the theatrical trailer and theatrical teaser for ELEKTRA, a Soundtrack spot, Sneak Peeks at Family Guy's return
to TV and America Dad, and a little presentation filmed for the San Diego Comic Con with Jennifer Garner talking about the
movie.
Inside Look has preview trailers for The Fantastic Four and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
FINAL ANALYSIS: ELEKTRA has a great transfer, but the movie is a mixed bag. The DVD has a disappointing set of extras (You
can skip everything except for the deleted scenes and the trailer for THE FANTASTIC FOUR). Unless you really love Jennifer
Garner, rent the DVD.
this DVD Review is (c)3-30-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
