| Elektra (Jennifer Garner) is a beautiful woman warrior who's also a hired assassin. She's hired to kill a father, Mark Miller and his daughter, Abby, who are running away from 'The Hand a criminal syndicate whose members are practitioners of a dark, martial cult. But for the first time, Elektra chooses to desist from terminating the contract; instead, she helps the two to escape. She is helped in this endeavor by her blind martial arts teacher, Stick (Terence Stamp) who's pushing her to decide where to use her skills-for good or evil. Elektra's decision is greatly influenced by her romantic feelings for Mark and her friendship for Abby.
The beauty, athleticism and martial arts skills, and popularity of Jennifer Garner of TV'S ALIAS fame makes her a good choice to play Elektra. Amidst the plethora of male comic books turned into movie superheroes, Elektra is an attempt to fill the dearth of female superheroes appearing on the screen. The lithe, grace and sexiness of Jennifer are factors for her but the weakness of the script makes it difficult for her to carry her role. This movie is commendable for avoiding the gore and carnage of Kill Bill 1 and 2, for instance, as those who are killed are transformed unto bright, multi-colored smoke. But the story and plot are not as clear and well developed as Spiderman. Neither does it have a big budget production cost as the latter.
One thing this movie has is a moral standpoint as explicitly stated in the opening narrative, "Since time began, there has been a war between good and evil and the battle may rage in the heart of a single person. Elektra typifies a person's battle with her own tortured past, and the struggle she has to make to free herself from it. Though the film suffers from the absence of a viable screenplay, it presents anew the endless battle between good and evil where one makes a personal decision- one that she chooses and constantly must re-choose. The choice of good many times leads to more difficulties and beckons greater inconveniences but we believe good will in the end triumph.
(Date Reviewed: January 28, 2005)
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