Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Terence Stamp, Kirsten Prout, Goran Visnjic
Director: Rob Bowman
To start with it has to be pointed out that this movie is not really a sequel to DAREDEVIL although it does take place after the events in that film. ELEKTRA is a story in its own right and should be viewed as such.
Jennifer Garner reprises her role as the very sexy Elektra – an excellent piece of casting – a cold blooded and extremely efficient assassin who is an expert in a form of martial art that uses not only the usual fighting skills but also has a supernatural element.
Elektra’s mission, or rather her next hit, is Mark (Goran Visnjic) and his young daughter Abby (Kirsten Prout) who have gone against the wishes of a crime syndicate known as ‘The Hand’. Elektra however has formed a relationship with Mark and his daughter and cannot bring herself to complete the hit. Instead she turns protector and has to stop a group of assassins who use a number of seemingly unstoppable supernatural powers to eliminate their targets.
ELEKTRA is based on a comic and I doubt that anyone familiar with the comic, or any fans of fantasy or martial arts would be disappointed by the end of the film. It’s about assassins with fantastic powers, it’s got some truly excellent fight sequences and it’s real strength is Jennifer Garner’s ability to look fantastic while performing some extremely convincing fight sequences as well as having a captivating personality and yes she really is a good actress to go with it.
The movie’s only weakness is that between the fighting the film tends to seem a little bit slow going. I guess the question is will the audience forgive this fault in exchange for watching Jennifer Garner in action? Well I did as did some other film critics I spoke with after the press screening. But some won’t. If you like the sound of this kind of story and you’ve seen and liked Jennifer Garner in the excellent TV series ALIAS then you should definitely put this movie on your ‘to see’ list. Otherwise give it a miss because after reading this review you will know if you are going to like the movie or not. Incidentally if they ever make a female James Bond – Jennifer Garner would be perfect!
