Details
Director: | Rob Bowman |
Writer: | Mark Steven Johnson, Frank Miller, Zak Penn, Raven Metzner |
Producer: | Avi Arad, Gary Foster, Arnon Milchan |
Theatrical: | 2005 |
Rated: | Unrated |
Studio: | 20th Century Fox |
Genre: | Fantasy, Action, Thriller, Crime |
Duration: | 1 hr 37 mins |
Languages: | English |
Subtitles: | Spanish |
Sound: | DTS 5.1 [English] |
Aspect Ratio: | Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1) |
Picture Format: | Widescreen |
Discs: | 1 |
Region: | Region 1 |
Release: | Jan 2005 |
Features
"The Making of..." Documentary Deleted/Extended Scenes Exclusive Deleted Scenes<br> The Making of <i>Elektra</i> featurette including interviews with Jennifer Garner and Director Rob Bowman<br> "Inside the Editing Room" featurettes<br> Jennifer Garner's Comic-Con Presentation<bR> Sneak Peak at The Return of TV's "Family Guy" and new series "American Dad"
Summary
While 2003's <I>Daredevil</I> was a conventional superhero movie, the 2005 spinoff, <I>Elektra</I>, is more of a <I>wuxia</I>-styled martial arts/fantasy flick. Elektra (Jennifer Garner) has returned to her life as a hired assassin, but she balks at an assignment to kill a single father (Goran Visnjic, <I>ER</I>) and his teenage daughter (Kirsten Prout). That makes her the target of the Hand, an organization of murderous ninjas, scheming corporate types, and a band of stylish supervillains seeking to eliminate Elektra and tip the balance of power in the ongoing battle of good vs. evil.<p> <p> As the star of <I>Alias</I>, Garner has proven that she can kick butt with the best of them, and some of the visual effects are impressive, but the action sequences tend to be anticlimactic, and there's not much to the story. Fans will notice numerous references to Frank Miller's comic books, but there's very little resemblance to Miller's cold-blooded killer (Elektra with an agent? Elektra referring to herself as a "soccer mom"?). <p> <p> Is <I>Elektra</I> better than <I>Daredevil</I>? Not really, even with the distinct advantage of having all Garner and no Ben Affleck. That could be the spinoff's greatest disappointment: after <I>Spider-Man 2</I> raised the bar for comic-book movies, <I>Elektra</I> lowered it back to <I>Daredevil</I>'s level. Directed by Rob Bowman (the <I>X-Files</I> movie), and featuring Terence Stamp as the mysterious mentor Stick, Will Yun Lee (<I>Die Another Day</I>) as the chief villain, and NFL-player-turned-mixed-martial-arts-champion Bob Sapp as the immovable Stone.<p><b> DVD features</b><br> Ben Affleck's much-rumored cameo is one of the deleted scenes on the <I>Elektra</I> DVD. It's a one-minute throwaway, and while he's supposedly appearing as Matt Murdock (who romanced Elektra in <I>Daredevil</I>), the barrage of celebrity gossip makes it impossible to see him as anything other than Jennifer Garner's real-life boyfriend. There's also a making-of featurette, which is mostly promotional hype other than a few interesting effects shots; four editing featurettes; and Jennifer Garner's videotaped message to ComicCon. <I>--David Horiuchi</I><p> <span class="h1"><strong>More on <i>Elektra</i></strong></span> <table cellpadding="4" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="4"><p> <tr class="tiny" valign="top" align="center"> <td><br><I>Elektra: The Album</I> (Soundtrack CD)</td><p> <td><br><I>Elektra: The Movie</I> (Comic Adaptation)</td><p> <td><br> Frank Miller Comic Books</td> </tr><p> <tr class="tiny" valign="top" align="center"> <td><br> <I>Daredevil</I> (Director's Cut) (DVD)</td><p> <td><br>Jennifer Garner stars in <I>Alias</I> (DVD)</td><p> <td><br>More Superhero DVDs</td> </tr> </table>