Elektra Review

(As a manga otaku, not a comic otaku, I will strive to reflect on connections to the comic canon or lack thereof in the films I review, animated or live action. I owe that much to the real fans)

Elektra as a film is not a direct sequel to Daredevil, more of a spin off. Supposedly the film barely made enough in the box office to necessitate the sequel, but I do remember it coming out in theatres, though I didn’t get the DVD until probably a year after its release. It advertises itself as an action fantasy adventure, owing to Elektra’s more mystical background as an assassin/ninja. As usual with any adaptation, there are discrepancies with the canon, but I’ll get to that as we progress. So onto the even less popular Marvel Comics film, Elektra.

We’re told of an ancient war between Good and Evil (because capitalization makes things really important) that has been waged for millennia. The conflict can take place between countries or in the soul of an individual (hinting at Elektra no doubt). The narrator also mentions a special woman who is meant to be used as a weapon, called the Treasure. An unnamed man hides at an undisclosed location, trying to avoid Elektra, which he has managed to do for some time, even being protected by the Hand, the present manifestation of the Evil spoken of in the introduction, but Elektra still manages to defeat every bodyguard the man puts in front of her. Elektra’s new look is shown and she quickly kills her target. We shift to a meeting headed by Roshi, the leader of the Hand, where it’s mentioned that they are looking for the Treasure and trying to keep it out of their enemy’s hands. Kirigi, Roshi’s son, notes that he is better suited for the job, Roshi sending another man and urging Kirigi to be patient. Elektra is approached by her manager, McCabe, about a new job, which she notes is quite expensive and must be specifically for her, which McCabe confirms. She accepts and en route to the location, she flashbacks to her being resurrected by her previous master Stick, and her training in Kimagure, the art used by the Good to combat the Evil that is the Hand. Elektra is told she does not understand the way, but only pain and violence which was what led her there before and after her resurrection. Elektra has another flashback to training with her father as she swims following her OCD organization of the house (involving fruits and toiletries). She comes in and catches Abby, a girl who was stealing a necklace of Elektra’s, sending her off. She’s woken up by a nightmare about her mother’s death and after training for most of the morning, meets Abby’s father. Later, Abby comes to invite Elektra for Christmas dinner, Elektra reluctantly accepting. At dinner, Elektra notes Abby’s Indonesian warrior beads after becoming adjusted to what is no doubt something uncommon for her (socializing with people not related to business). She observes Abby and her father’s interaction, reflecting her commonality to Abby (both being motherless and Elektra in particular orphaned, though pressured by her father in training) and disappearing abruptly. The next morning, Elektra gets the information from her clients, indicating that she’s to kill Abby and her father, a shock that she doesn’t take very well, going against her duty for once and stopping herself from killing them just as she has a clear shot. After realizing she can’t do it, Elektra nearly leaves, turning back at the last moment and stopping two assassins from the Hand (who explode into green smoke; must be a Hand ninja thing, because that’s what they’re dressed like, stereotypical ninja). Kirigi and his other fellow “ninjas” Stone, Typhoid, Tattoo and Kinkou (Kinkou a random character not based on any Marvel character in the slightest, the others based off of Marvel or Elektra characters) are given the task to find the Treasure and if they succeed, Kirigi will lead the council in Roshi’s place. Elektra finds Stick at a pool hall (bringing Mark and Abby along to protect them), but Stick refuses to help them. Elektra says she can’t help them either, but goes against this to take Abby and Mark to a safe place. Tattoo’s bird tracks them, allowing the assassins to continue to hunt Abby and Mark for reasons still yet unknown. Elektra brings them to McCabe’s place to lay low for a while, Abby changing her appearance and bonding with Elektra a bit, while Mark and Elektra hit it off in a more romantic direction (not like one shouldn’t expect such a subplot in any such movie to draw in females, even though the film’s protagonist is a female). Kirigi’s group manages to find them thanks to Tattoo’s eagle and McCabe holds them off, to no avail, as Kirigi finds out where they’re headed already and then kills McCabe. Typhoid, Stone and Tattoo, along with Kinkou, chase the three, Stone and Kinkou eliminated. It’s shown that Abby can actually fight and Kirigi reveals that she is the Treasure they’re searching for, though what that is has not yet been revealed. Stick and some white ninjas save the group from Kirigi as they retreat, Elektra saved from Typhoid’s poisonous lesbian kiss by Stick. Abby is revealed to have been a prodigy, which is why the Hand wants her. And unless she stays with Stick and the Kimagure clan, she isn’t safe. Abby and Elektra train a bit and Elektra sees a bit of herself in Abby. She then calls a single battle between her and Kirigi, going back to her family’s house to finish their conflict once and for all. The fight goes badly for Elektra until Abby comes in. The two escape and after being chased by Tattoo’s snakes, Elektra manages to kill him as he’s in the trance summoning them. Abby is caught off guard by Typhoid who poisons her, while Elektra finally gains the edge against Kirigi and slays him, quickly killing Typhoid afterwards. She then finds Abby, on the brink of death, but after a sudden enlightenment, she gains a new perspective on things and manages to revive Abby. Abby and her dad leave, while Elektra is inspired to pursue her new perspective on life by Stick, leaving her house as the film ends.

Jennifer Garner does Elektra very well, just as she did in Daredevil. Her personality this time was changed drastically, less sassy and more emotionless, cynical at best (since she died and came back to life and all, I’d bet she’s kind of moody). Her background is extended further as well, but still portraying a ninja assassin in red clothes excellently. Terence Stamp as Stick is good as well even if he is minor in his involvement. His role as a master to Elektra is crucial to really understanding the position Elektra came from and why she has to suffer in order to learn from her mistakes and redeem herself as a person. Kirsten Prout portrays Abby Miller, starting off as a teenager with authority issues and advancing into something of a mini clone of Elektra, though much more outgoing and suffering less than Elektra has in her short 13 years so far. Even losing her mother and being pressured as a prodigy is not nearly as much as Elektra has gone through and she makes you hope that she won’t go through so much in the future. Will Yun Lee is Kirigi, the one villain I found to be compellingly evil and someone that you can see virtue in with his respect for the divisions between the Hand and Kimagure as well as his slow and methodical way of fighting through the film. His ambition to control the Hand is admirable as well, albeit one might think he would’ve been willing to kill Roshi, but his father’s role was minor and actually unresolved as to what his fate was, though perhaps Roshi expected Kirigi to fail since he was not taking his advice to be patient. The other enemy ninjas are interesting as side characters, as is McCabe, all dying relatively uneventfully. Kirigi is not the last to die, Typhoid dying last probably since she said she was originally the Treasure, not revealed beforehand or even indicated. The flatness of these minor characters is a flaw the film suffers from in leaving so many plotlines unresolved or not delved into enough, such as Roshi’s fate and why Typhoid was originally the Treasure and not Kirigi, which would reinforce his desire to take her as his student. Daredevil is only referenced in the Director’s Cut in a single scene, when his background with Elektra might’ve served a useful role in the narrative.

The primary theme is the battle between good and evil (on the various levels: Hand v. Kimagure and Elektra’s internal struggle esp.) and how Elektra demonstrates that even the truly good must sometimes resort to violence to combat the truly evil. Elektra advances as a character, understanding herself and that her true nature is not evil or cold hearted, but feels and suffers and can therefore recover. Her recovery takes place through the film, connecting with Abby and her father and even reconnecting with Stick through his sagely, albeit vague, advice. There is also the relationship between Elektra and Abby in particular, both being pressured in some sense to face a destiny that they don’t want. Elektra was shown to have been trained by her father harshly (though in Daredevil she said it was the various sensei that made her strong, so already the continuity of the films is ruined) and Abby is a natural prodigy, possessing enough potential to be hunted down by the Hand and also pressured into staying with the Kimagure to stay safe, even though she herself doesn’t want this life. Her eventual resurrection by Elektra mirrors Elektra’s shown through flashbacks. Both of these revivals serve as focal points for the characters to pursue a new path and improve themselves. Elektra’s path took much longer, though she worries for Abby as well, but there is also the possibility that since Elektra influenced her, Abby may turn out even better.

The film progresses at a decent pace, but the action is less exciting than I recall. The fights against the two assassins are either nonexistent or Elektra dodging darts. And concerning Kirigi’s thugs, Stone is killed by the tree he knocked down, Kinkou by his own knife, Tattoo by his neck being broken as he sits in a trance, Kirigi by getting stabbed in the gut by Elektra as he rushes at her and Typhoid by a carefully thrown sai. The fight scenes seem to rely too much on the special effects and less on real choreography for hand to hand or even weapon to weapon combat. Kirigi in particular is an example of a failure on both parts, the weapon fighting scenes too short for what they could be and the use of the illusion of the flying tablecloths also ruining what could’ve been a good fight, now more visually confusing than necessary (his super speed effect already a challenge to Elektra). The progression of Elektra’s personality and relationships with Abby and Stick I can view as necessary (along with the general build up to the epic final battle between the representatives of the Hand and Kimagure), but for all the fight scenes promised, the film disappoints heavily. Even Daredevil had more in depth fight scenes than this and that had its own distracting problem with the romantic subplot which had some value regardless. This film would get one of my lowest ratings so far in hindsight after being so enthralled in it as a teen (possibly by the kunoichi appeal of Elektra and just seeing Jennifer Garner in a much more skimpy outfit). The star rating would be a 3 out of 5, due to the imbalance of a fair plot progression with a fantasy/ninja theme of good versus evil on the one hand and short lived or anticlimactic fight scenes and poor advancement of plotlines, such as the Treasure, etc, on the other. The recommendation would be around 50%, since it is some exposure to Elektra, even if they reversed at least one character’s role (Stone was originally a good guy in the comics) underpowered Kirigi as well (he could regenerate and was super strong, near invincible, in the comics) and even raped the continuity established in Elektra (since her father was not only changed to a direct training role, but the actor changed to a younger male, her father in Daredevil a white haired elderly man). I can’t take this movie as much more than pulling Elektra from Daredevil and trying to put her in a sequel film to cash in on her sex appeal and potential draw to female fans of comics, neither of which works especially well. It falls on both accounts: her sex appeal is subtle and not nearly what you’d expect even with her outfit redesigned, and her appeal to females hinges on her clairvoyant powers and also the use of what might be understood as a more female weapon in the sai, not to mention her physical toughness is less than expected. Disappointing on the one hand, but still possessing potential on the other. This could be extended into a television series and I would watch it, especially if you progressively introduced Elektra’s backstory as well as slowly intertwine her story with that of Abby’s as the Treasure, hunted by the Hand. All in all, this was a somewhat depressing but still heartening endeavor. Until next time, Namaste and Aloha.