Comic Book Busts: "Elektra"
I've done an informal survey, and apparently I'm the only person on planet Earth who liked 2003's "Daredevil."
So I didn't mind when the powers that be spun off that film's Elektra character into her own vehicle.
Well, I think the verdict on the subsequent film was unanimous.
"Elektra" let Jennifer Garner nearly derail her movie career, but at least she looked great doing it.
The film follows Elektra, a curvy assassin, as she strikes out against a criminal organization known as the Hand. The action sequences weren't eye-popping, which is a shame since the rest of the feature all but left me comatose.
Garner does the intense stare better than anyone, but someone should have whispered in her ear that she was playing a comic book hero, not a Shakespearean death scene.
But "Elektra" wasn't the most painful comic book film in recent memory. That honor goes to tomorrow's final installment of Comic Book Busts.
Labels: Comic book movies, Elektra
posted by Toto @ 8:23 PM
5 Comments
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5 Comments:
Indeed, Electra ... ouch. I grew up reading comic books, I even had the special edition where Bullseye kills Electra, never liked her as a character anyway. To tell the truth, I didn't really like Daredevil that much ... But this movie sucked.
From what you've seen in the trailers, any predictions on Iron Man?
I think it has potential to be sequelized ... from what I've seen.
They don't make comic book movies these days without a part 2, 3 and 4 firmly in mind.
Trailers look mostly good, but director Jon Favreau isn't a visionary like Tim Burton or Sam Raimi. So I think the ceiling on this one is modest.
I luuuuved comics as a lad. Electra? Not so much. X-Men and Spidy. Great comics made into pretty good movies.
Agree, SG. I knew the first "X-Men" movie was on target during an early scene in which Wolverine is punching something - hard. The sound of his heavy fists was potent - right then I knew the director (Bryan Singer) was taking things seriously.
...and that is what killed "Elektra: (and "Punisher"): the director (and prolly writers) did not take things seriously.
(As I also disliked this film but confessed to liking LXG, I will not delve into the 8-Head Bias again.)
I liked Elektra for what her character brought to the Miller-era Daredevil: a counterpoint of going too far for justice and becoming corrupted in the process. This was somewhat addressed in the mediocre "Daredevil," but lost in "Elektra" - these characters are not meant to be protagonists, but only antagonists of a complexity usually not seen in mainstream comic villains.
The problem is that the best well-developed bad guys - look at Rickman's Hans Gruber - generate their own popularity and end up straying from their originally-limited role into larger scopes that should be inappropriate. This is what happened to Elektra in the comics, and now, in the film. So it goes....
~ Dagnabbitt
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