...a pointless, muddled mass of sentiment and clichés that elicits mainly yawns.
From the point where Elektra starts defending the man and girl, the movie becomes almost all run, chase, and fight, with intermittent moments of slow, almost silent mysticism and tedium.
The characters are based on those created by Frank Miller for Marvel Comics, and the movie was directed by Rob Bowman, who was known earlier in his career for his TV work on projects like "Quantum Leap," "Bay Watch," and "The X Files." Then he branched out into feature films with "The X Files" movie and 2002's Armageddon dragon tale, "Reign of Fire." "Elektra" is a continuation of the same for him, TV-type hocus-pocus and vague occultism, with more attention to atmosphere than to action. Normally, I would consider this a good thing, except that in this case the atmosphere goes nowhere; it doesn't create any genuine mood, any sense of danger or mystery. Like Garner, who is the best part of the movie in her intentionally soulless manner, by the way, the atmosphere looks good and would appear to mean something but is ultimately empty.
"Elektra" is a pointless, muddled mass of sentiment and clichés that elicits mainly yawns.
Video:
The video quality on the disc is generally excellent. The picture is presented in a ratio stretching to a ratio approximately 2.14:1 across my standard-screen Sony HD television, done up in anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for 16x9 TVs), and transferred at a high bit rate. This makes for some especially deep black levels, setting off the rest of the colors nicely. Understand, though, that this is a typical Frank Miller noir subject, so most scenes are going to be dark; expect very few bright, flashy shots. There is some very minor haloing noticeable (or some extreme backlighting), a slight glassy smudge to the image, but fairly good detail nevertheless.
Audio:
The disc's audio quality is almost entirely excellent. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics open up an all-enveloping surround experience. We're always in the midst of the action, whether we want to be or not. A strong dynamic impact makes every punch feel like it's hitting you personally. And, of course, we are encircled by the sounds of thunder, rain, footsteps, birds, trees, creaking doors, musical ambiance, you name it.
Extras:
The bulk of the extras are of the self-promotional variety. There are three deleted scenes in widescreen, each lasting a minute or two, that are of some interest. There's a twelve-minute featurette, "The Making of Elektra," that includes scenes from the movie and comments from some of the filmmakers, Jennifer Garner, Terrence Stamp, and Kirsten Proust. And there are four brief, two-minute featurettes under the umbrella "Inside the Editing Room," where director Bowman takes us through some of the movie's key scenes: "Only a Warrior," "I Died Once," "The Way," and "Don't Force It." Most everything else is advertising. There's a minute-and-half presentation at Comic-Con by Jennifer Garner; an opening trailer for "I, Robot"; Inside Looks at "Fantastic Four" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"; Sneak Peeks at the return of TV's "Family Guy" and a new series, "American Dad"; and theatrical and teaser trailers for "Elektra." Beyond that, there are twenty-four scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles.
Parting Shots:
For all its good intents, and you can see director Rob Bowman and actress Jennifer Garner were giving their all to a vacuous script, the movie is largely a long snooze. It's so filled out with posturing and pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo and forced sentimentality, it can barely get off the ground. Some small parts of the movie look spectacular in a "Crouching Tiger" sort of way, but its main value may be as a substitute for sleeping pills on a restless night.
The characters are based on those created by Frank Miller for Marvel Comics, and the movie was directed by Rob Bowman, who was known earlier in his career for his TV work on projects like "Quantum Leap," "Bay Watch," and "The X Files." Then he branched out into feature films with "The X Files" movie and 2002's Armageddon dragon tale, "Reign of Fire." "Elektra" is a continuation of the same for him, TV-type hocus-pocus and vague occultism, with more attention to atmosphere than to action. Normally, I would consider this a good thing, except that in this case the atmosphere goes nowhere; it doesn't create any genuine mood, any sense of danger or mystery. Like Garner, who is the best part of the movie in her intentionally soulless manner, by the way, the atmosphere looks good and would appear to mean something but is ultimately empty.
"Elektra" is a pointless, muddled mass of sentiment and clichés that elicits mainly yawns.
Video:
The video quality on the disc is generally excellent. The picture is presented in a ratio stretching to a ratio approximately 2.14:1 across my standard-screen Sony HD television, done up in anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for 16x9 TVs), and transferred at a high bit rate. This makes for some especially deep black levels, setting off the rest of the colors nicely. Understand, though, that this is a typical Frank Miller noir subject, so most scenes are going to be dark; expect very few bright, flashy shots. There is some very minor haloing noticeable (or some extreme backlighting), a slight glassy smudge to the image, but fairly good detail nevertheless.
Audio:
The disc's audio quality is almost entirely excellent. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics open up an all-enveloping surround experience. We're always in the midst of the action, whether we want to be or not. A strong dynamic impact makes every punch feel like it's hitting you personally. And, of course, we are encircled by the sounds of thunder, rain, footsteps, birds, trees, creaking doors, musical ambiance, you name it.
Extras:
The bulk of the extras are of the self-promotional variety. There are three deleted scenes in widescreen, each lasting a minute or two, that are of some interest. There's a twelve-minute featurette, "The Making of Elektra," that includes scenes from the movie and comments from some of the filmmakers, Jennifer Garner, Terrence Stamp, and Kirsten Proust. And there are four brief, two-minute featurettes under the umbrella "Inside the Editing Room," where director Bowman takes us through some of the movie's key scenes: "Only a Warrior," "I Died Once," "The Way," and "Don't Force It." Most everything else is advertising. There's a minute-and-half presentation at Comic-Con by Jennifer Garner; an opening trailer for "I, Robot"; Inside Looks at "Fantastic Four" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"; Sneak Peeks at the return of TV's "Family Guy" and a new series, "American Dad"; and theatrical and teaser trailers for "Elektra." Beyond that, there are twenty-four scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles.
Parting Shots:
For all its good intents, and you can see director Rob Bowman and actress Jennifer Garner were giving their all to a vacuous script, the movie is largely a long snooze. It's so filled out with posturing and pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo and forced sentimentality, it can barely get off the ground. Some small parts of the movie look spectacular in a "Crouching Tiger" sort of way, but its main value may be as a substitute for sleeping pills on a restless night.
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Average user rating (1-5):
[release]15874[/release]