Daredevil Part Deux

Movie Review: Elektra

It took 11 days to see my first movie of 2005 - completely out of character for me, especially when there was a weekend and a half in there. Laziness and lack of motivation I guess (plus I have been sick). And then, my first movie being Elektra - not the best of decisions, but it was free (thanks, Leslie!).

Since the beginning of this blog 6 months ago, and the fact that I am actually writing reviews, causes me to avoid all reviews of a movie until I have thought it through and those thoughts on virtual paper. I'm pretty good at avoiding it since I see a lot of screenings and sneaks - no one else has had the chance to see a movie. I'm almost always with Angie at these things and she and I exchange few words about a movie after unless it was just amazing or a complete piece of crap...Elekra fell into neither category, but it comes close. Unfortunately, this time there was a 3rd party there who is unaware of this unspoken deal between us (not his fault) and thus he began railing on the movie as we were walking out of the theatre. I managed to tune him out, but then someone came up to me today and was giving me the same review (he had gotten it from the 3rd party) and was regailing the tale back to me. I was quick to let him know I had already heard this review and did not agree with it - not quite.

So now that I have a free minute and a half to write this, so let me thrust my opinion upon all you who read this :)

Elektra, portrayed in Daredevil as an interesting character (really the only interesting part about that movie). Those of us who have not been reading the Elektra comics were craving details into her background - why was she fighting bad guys, where did she get all the leather, and explain the sais. That said, I think this movie was anticipated by a lot of us, and while all of this was explained in Elektra, it took too long to explain it. The movie's pacing was off and there was not enough fighting - HOWEVER, the fight scenes were cool. The band of misfits, known as The Hand, after Elektra junior (you have to see the movie) were pretty cool - live tattoo boy, death-breath, and the like - but very 2-dimensional. The blind guru, General Zod...I mean, Stick (played by Terence Stamp, was a bit too preachy and it turns out a master manipulator.

Look - it ain't a bad movie, but it isn't so good either. I went in with low expectations so I wasn't disappointed, and actually a teeny-bit surprised. But chica, get a cooler costume. Your leather was much cooler than your red satin number. Fire your wardrobe mistress immediately.