My Review of Elektra (2005)

 

Written by Zak Penn And Stuart Zicherman And M. Raven Metzner

Directed by Rob Bowman

Elektra: "The second life isn't like the first one, is it?"

Stick: "Sometimes, it's even better."

2005 was certainly a year for comic book movies but not every one of them could hit the heights of Batman Begins and Fantastic Four. At least one of them had to hit rock bottom. This would be the case for Elektra.

Yesterday, I reviewed Daredevil (2003) and pointed out how much of a mess that movie was. However, the highlight of that movie was Jennifer Garner's antihero, Elektra Natchios. Given that the movie was a hit and Garner had a popular show with Alias at the time, giving her a spin off movie felt like a no brainer.

Unfortunately during the making of the movie, someone forgot to give the character a decent script to work with. With this film, you've got something that's marginally less worse than Catwoman (2004) but also something lacking a camp factor like Supergirl (1984). 

Between movies, Elektra was resurrected and left New York for some unknown island. She became a contract killer and was also being trained up by Stick (Terrance Stamp) while also working for McCabe (Colin Cunningham). Also for the most part, Elektra wanted to be left alone. 

However with this movie, that idea went out the window where a father and daughter duo named Mark (Goran Višnjić) and Abby Miller (Kirsten Prout). At first they seemed like a normal family before it was revealed that Abby was Treasure, which was rather important to the villains of the bunch - the Hand.

Yup, with that reveal, Elektra not only found herself having to protect Abby but she also bonded with the teenager while battling the likes of Tattoo (Chris Ackerman), Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) and Typhoid (Natassia Malthe). Throw in some flashbacks, antics in a maze and kiss with Mark, this movie mostly saw Elektra put her demons to rest.

- Ben Affleck actually filmed a scene as Daredevil but it was removed from the movie.

- The directors cut extended the movie by three minutes with some extra scenes. 

- Standout music: Hawthorne Heights Angels With Even Filthier Souls.

- Chronology: Years after the events of Daredevil (2003) and set during Christmas time.

I wanted to like Elektra but like the movie it came from, it's just not a good movie. Jennifer Garner tried her best but it's just a dreadful showcase for both her and the character. Thank fuck a certain appearance in 2024 gave the character the redemption needed.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of Daredevil (2003)

 

Written And Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Daredevil: "As for Daredevil, well... soon the world will know the truth. That this is a city born of heroes, that one man CAN make a difference."

There are some actors out there who are arguably not cut out for the superhero genre. If Ben Affleck made for a divisive version of Batman between 2016-2023, then cast your minds back to a time when he played a different superhero for another brand.

Picture it: It's 2003 and Affleck at a good place in his career decided to take on the role of blind lawyer Matt Murdock and his alter ego, the vigilante, Daredevil. I'll be blunt, he's absolutely miscast in the role from start to finish.

The early part of the movie skimmed through a younger Matt's (Scott Terra) backstory, involving bullies and the highs and lows of his boxer father, Jack (David Keith), with the latter's eventual death at the hands of local crime boss, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Wilson's not to be messed with.

Throughout the movie, Fisk did everything to assert his power, including hiring Bullseye (Colin Farrell) to take out Nikolas Natchios (Erick Avari). By doing this, he created a vengeance seeking antihero in Nikolas's daughter, Elektra (Jennifer Garner), who was determined to get her own back.

Throughout the movie, Elektra was the obvious highlight of the whole thing. There's a good chemistry between Elektra and Matt, even when the former initially thought that Daredevil was responsible for her father's death. Of course she found out that Bullseye did the deed before she ended up dead at his hands.

The rest of the movie kind of rushed through both Daredevil taking out both Bullseye and Kingpin while also getting something of a media champion in Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano). The latter could've outed him but chose not to, especially following the downfall of Kingpin.

- Other characters included Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) and Karen Page (Ellen Pompeo). Theres also cameos from Stan Lee and Kevin Smith.

- A post credit scene revealed that Bullseye survived and still had his skills intact. Colin Farrell using his own accent was something else.

- Standout music: Evanescence's Bring Me To Life.

- Chronology: 2003, Hell's Kitchen in New York.

Daredevil wasn't a great film when it first came out and over two decades later, it's still a rather poor live action adaptation for the character. Ben Affleck was woefully miscast as the character but both Colin Farrell and Michael Clarke Duncan are dire too.

Rating: 4 out of 10