There have been several movies made that were based on comic books over the years. I have seen and enjoyed many of those movies. It the last few years, several movies have been made featuring characters from Marvel comic books. Elektra is the newest one to be released. Elektra was a character in another movie based on a comic book, Daredevil. I saw and enjoyed that movie and was interested when I first heard that Elektra would have her own movie.
Elektra took place after the end of Daredevil, but it wasn't clear exactly how much time had passed. Elektra can stand on its own. The two movies really didn't seem to be connected in any way other than the fact that Elektra was in both of them.
A woman wearing a red outfit made her way past security and guards on her way to a man that was sitting in front of a fire. She was Elektra. He knew she was coming for him and shared a story about her with the one guard that was in the room with him before she arrived. She was a deadly assassin and she was there for a job. She was ready for a break, but McCabe, the man that acted as her agent, told her about a new job offer that would pay a lot. Elektra decided to take the job. She was to move into a house on an island and wait for the information about who the target was.
Elektra didn't like having to wait around to get the rest of the details for the job. She was having bad dreams about how she had found her mother dead when she was a child. Elektra also remembered how Stick had brought her back to life and trained her in kimagure, a type of martial arts that would let people be able to control time and see future events. Stick told her to leave before her training was complete because she was having trouble with certain things she would need to be able to do to master kimagure. Stick said he couldn't teach her those things. After leaving her training, she kept herself at a distance from people and became an assassin. Shortly after moving into the house, Elektra met Abby Miller, a thirteen-year-old girl that was staying in a near by cabin with her father Mark. Elektra started off trying to keep her distance like she always did, but she ended up spending some time with Mark and Abby.
Elektra finally received information on who she was supposed to kill and it turned out to be Mark and Abby. Elektra couldn't go through with the hit. She started to leave the island, but went to talk to Mark instead that evening. Two other assassins had been sent. Elektra took care of them and got Mark and Abby away from the cabin. They were being hunted by the Hand, some kind of Asian gang lead by Roshi. A new group of assassins lead by Kirigi was sent after the Millers. Typhoid, Tattoo, and Stone each had unique abilities that made them dangerous enemies. Elektra took them to talk to Stick and was ready to leave when she found out that Mark hadn't told her everything, but she changed her mind and tried to find a safe place for them. Elektra became determined to protect the Millers from the Hand.
Flashbacks were used at different times throughout Elektra to show part of her past. It was clear when a flashback was going on. Elektra had several dreams about finding the body of her dead mother when she was still very young. That did help to explain a few things about Elektra. A short flashback showed Elektra in an ambulance after she had been mortally wounded. She was wounded in Daredevil, though I don't remember it showing her in an ambulance. That was all that was shown related to what happened to her in that movie. No characters from that movie ever turned up. How she was brought back and some of the training she received from Stick was also shown through flashbacks. Finding her mother's body was a reoccurring memory, and she still had bad dreams about it. I wasn't bothered by the flashbacks. The information that was shared in them did help to move the story along and they explained certain things about Elektra. The flashbacks flowed well within the movie. I do think that they were important to painting a fuller picture of Elektra. I would have liked it if there had been a little more background information about her provided. I was disappointed that it was never told why her mother had been murdered.
There was action throughout Elektra, which kept things moving along at a fairly fast pace. I didn't think that the movie was rushed. There were a few slower scenes here and there that allowed for a bit of character development. I wasn't bored by anything that happened in the movie, though it wasn't always clear at first why certain things happened. The action was provided by the different fights that Elektra got in with her enemies. She used some kind of knives as her weapon of choice. She was very good with the knives. I did wonder where she was carrying them a few times, especially when she was wearing the skimpy red outfit. The fight scenes were very impressive. During some of the fights, her hair was blowing all around. In one of the fights later in the movie, sheets that had been covering furniture were flying around making it difficult to tell exactly what was going on during the fight. That was a little distracting, but it didn't bother me too much. It did make the fight look interesting. There was violence in the movie. People were injured, but I didn't really see much blood. I didn't think it was extremely violent, but others may feel differently.
Special effects were used in Elektra. The other assassins that were sent after Mark and Abby had powers. They seemed to be some kind of mystical fighters. It was stated at one point in the movie that there has been a battle waging between good and evil for years. The assassins were on the side of evil. When one of them was killed, the body would disappear in a flash of light or smoke. Stone was a large, very strong man. His body was bulletproof. Typhoid was poisonous. Her breath or touch could kill any living thing. Tattoo had tattoos of different animals all over his body. The tattoos would come to life and he controlled the animals. It was interesting and a little freaky to see the animals in the tattoos start moving and then leave his body. He had tattoos of snakes on his back that he did set loose late in the movie. I knew that was going to happen for a preview, so I was sort of prepared. It wasn't too bad at first, but as that sequence continued, more snakes were slithering around, and it was more unpleasant for me. I wasn't as scared by all of them as I was the one in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events though. I'm fairly certain that the snakes, and all the other animals that came to life from the tattoos, were created with special effects. They looked well done. I think effects were used to show the results of Typhoid's power as well.
Elektra appeared as a character in the Daredevil comic book. I never read that one, so I don't know exactly what happened with her in it, but I have read about a few things that happened to her. Elektra has her own comic book now. I've never read any of them, so I don't know how close to the source material the movie stayed. I did find some information about the comics which stated that Elektra was an assassin in them, so at least that much stayed the same. I think Elektra used the same knives in the comics and movie. I did find out that Elektra dealt with the Hand in at least some of her comics. Elektra was a darker story, and I believe the comics are darker as well. I am interested in finding out more about this character and think I will try to find some of the Elektra comics. The movie left some unanswered questions for me. There wasn't any background information provided for the members of the Hand at all. I would have liked to know a bit more about them. Since the movie was based on a comic, the plot is a bit far fetched and predictable, but I expected that with this type of movie. This is the second movie to feature a female comic book character as the main character. I am hoping that a movie based on Wonder Woman will be made since more comic book movies are being made now. It was enjoyable to see a woman featured as the main character and be the one that was taking care of the bad guys instead of cowering in fear while the man took care of things.
The acting in Elektra was good. Jennifer Garner was a bit cold and distant as Elektra, but that fit with the character. Elektra had been through a lot of difficult things in her life, including finding her mother murdered when she was a child, being killed herself and then brought back to life. Things like that would impact on a person and I think it made sense that she was distant. Elektra was the most developed of the characters, though there was still some mystery about her past. So far I have only seen Jennifer Garner in Daredevil and the television show Alias. Sydney, the character she plays on Alias, does share Elektra's fighting abilities, though Sydney doesn't use the knives. Jennifer Garner is in very good shape. She was never nude in the movie. She did wear a tight red outfit a few times that showed off some skin, but it wasn't too revealing.
Goran Visnjic was fine as Mark Miller. There wasn't anything about his performance that stood out. Some other actors probably would have been just as good in the part. Mark was important to the plot since Elektra was supposed to kill him, but he really wasn't in that much of the movie. He was a flat character. A few things about him became clearer later in the movie, like why the Hand wanted him dead, but there were still some unanswered questions about him. Visnjic provided a voice for a character in Ice Age and can currently be seen on E.R. on television. Kirsten Prout did a good job as Abby Miller. She has been in a few other movies, but I haven't seen her in anything before this. She fit the part well. Abby was in a few more scenes than her dad was and developed a bit more. There could have been more development for though.
Terence Stamp played Stick, the man that brought Elektra back to life and then trained her. He was fighting on the side of good. It was never explained how he originally knew about Elektra. He only turned up in a few scenes, so he was another character that was rather flat. Stamp had a very different part in The Haunted Mansion. Kirigi, Roshi, Tattoo, Typhoid, and Stone were also flat characters. It was never explained how they ended up connected with the Hand. There was no background information for them at all. The actors that played those characters all did fine, though none of them had much to do. Will Yun Lee appeared in Die Another Day. Colin Cunningham played McCabe, a man who seemed to work as Elektra's agent and got her new jobs. He was the only person she really had contact with on a regular basis. There was no background information provided for him either. I did wonder how he and Elektra ended up working together. Cunningham was fine in the part. Lara Ward was shown briefly in a few scenes as the young Elektra.
CHARACTERS
Elektra - Young woman who was an assassin. People told stories about her and considered her a legend. She was a very good fighter. She was content with her life and wasn't bothered with killed people until she was hired to kill a father and daughter that she had made a connection with. She had dreams about events from her past that still haunted her. She was at a turning point in her life.
Stick - Blind man that fought against evil forces. He trained Elektra for a time before sending her away.
Mark Miller - Single father that Elektra was hired to kill.
Abby Miller - Mark's thirteen-year-old daughter. She was also marked for death. Abby was impulsive at times and did something that put her in danger.
Kirigi, Typhoid, Stone, and Tattoo - Group of assassins that worked for the Hand. They seemed to work together. They all had special abilities that made them dangerous enemies to face in battle.
Roshi - Leader of the Hand.
CAST
Chris Ackerman - Tattoo
Colin Cunningham - McCabe
Jennifer Garner - Elektra
Will Yun Lee - Kirigi
Natassia Malthe - Typhoid
Kirsten Prout - Abby Miller
Bob Sapp - Stone
Terence Stamp - Stick
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - Roshi
Goran Visnjic - Mark Miller
Laura Ward - Young Elektra
Elektra was released on January 14, 2005. The movie was an hour and forty minutes long. It was rated PG-13 for violence. I don't remember hearing any swearing in the movie. Even though the movie was based on a comic book character, it isn't for young children. I think the movie was too violent for young children. I don't know that they would stay interested in the movie when there weren't any fights going on.
I thought that Elektra was entertaining and enjoyable. There was enough going on to keep me interested. The movie is one of the better ones to feature characters from comic books. People who like that type of movie should give Elektra a chance. Fans of Jennifer Garner may also enjoy the movie.
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