film review

Watching
this flick for the first time, I had to keep in mind that 1) based on what i’d read about
it, I had
very low expectations and 2) studios rarely, if ever, get comic book movies right. I
don’t think there’s EVER been a flick that was anywhere near faithful to the source
material and high grossing simultaneously. Even Superman, in my opinion one of
the greatest comic book movies ever made, took a few liberties with Supe’s history
(the reversal of Earth’s rotation
shall not be discussed). During the late
80s/early 90s, DC comics hit the goldmine with Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman
Returns, while Marvel floundered with Captain America and the Fantastic Four. The
aforementioned Batflicks went on to make TONS of money, while the latter
never saw the light of day and was banished to the "direct-to-comic-book-convention-bootleg-video"
market. 

There are some fairly obvious plot developments along the way, and the
requisite team of supervillains turns out to be pretty pathetic. They include
such colorfully named villains as Tattoo (a fella whose tattooed creatures on
his body CGI into real life), Stone (a big, brutish guy who’s built as if he’s
made of….stone) and Kinkou (who….umm, broods and can balance a coin on his
hand while walking cool). The screenwriters have also imported a few elements of the comic book:
Kirigi (who seems to have the Jedi power of zipping around from place to place,
as well as the ability to manipulate dry cleaning) and Typhoid Mary, a character
that serves no purpose in this flick other than to inflame teenage libidos
during her kissing scene with Garner (which is a shame since her character is much
more interesting in the comics).

Added to this are Mark Miller (played by Goran Visnjic, who’d be better off
leaving the brat with and heading back to County General) and his
daughter Abby (an annoying Kirsten Prout). I really couldn’t form a proper
opinion of Visnjic, since his character doesn’t have much to do other than let
the girls fight. Prout, on the other hand, I found to be terribly annoying.
Terence Stamp is on hand to out-"Miyagi" Mr. Miyagi, as he spends his
time getting philosophical when he’s not hustling at a pool hall (another thing ‘ported
over from the comic book). 

Rob Bowman does a capable job directing , thankfully avoiding
the turning of this flick into a 97 minute infomercial for the soundtrack (like
Daredevil). In fact, I think there might’ve only been one occasion where
a song from the soundtrack was played, and that was in the pool hall. He keeps
the "story" and action moving at a brisk pace, which may be a good
thing since the film comes in at a lean 97 minutes, 8 of which are spent on
blaring the soundtrack during the end credits. In retrospect, it seems as if
there’s more missing from this flick than just the 3 minutes that make up the
deleted scenes. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a "director’s
cut", ala Daredevil and the Punisher, somewhere down the line.

Video: is presented in
an anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 ratio. The DVD looks great,
as it should, with a sharp and colorful picture. The blacks were deep and I
didn’t notice any edge enhancement. 

Audio: is presented in English 5.1 dts and 5.1 Dolby Digital. There really isn’t
that much of a difference between the dts and the DD. There’s
occasional ambience from the rears during the film and they get quite the workout
during the action sequences, but for the most part the soundtrack sticks to the fronts and center.
They’ve also included French and Spanish Dolby Surround tracks.

Special Features:
With features disappointingly similar to what one might find on a standard
studio Electronic Press Kit (or even a Best Buy giveaway), there’s only one thing on here that might interest fans
who actually buy this disc - a
brief, "blink ‘n ya miss it" appearance by a certain ex of J.Lo’s in
the Deleted Scenes. (C’mon, i’m not giving anything away - Lord knows she has a bunch to choose
from). Each of the three deleted scenes
average a
minute or two and, other than the one I mentioned, they’re really nothing of any
consequence. 

We also get a 13 minute
"Making Of" featurette along with a 1 and 1/2 minute "Comic-Con
Presentation" short. Both aren’t too interesting. The next "special feature", "Inside the
Editing Room", contains four different featurettes, each one clocking
in at roughly 1m 30s. Basically, they’re shorts that were originally posted on
the movie’s website that have director Bowman introducing clips of the film
from…wait for it…inside an editing room. 

There’s also a
Theatrical Teaser and Trailer, as well as a commercial for the Soundtrack. Also, for reasons unexplained [other than
the fact they’re both FOX properties],
they’ve included promos for Seth McFarlane’s "American Dad" and
"Family Guy". Oh, and I nearly forgot — on the Main menu, there’s an
option called Inside Look. Lest you think it might be related to , it’s
not. It’s two anamorphic trailers for FOX’s forthcoming "Fantastic Four"
and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". 

Conclusion: It might sound like I have an axe to grind with this flick
(or Marvel). I truly don’t. I’ve been a "Marvel Zombie" for close to
25 years now. I was there when Elektra first appeared, and i’ve hung around ’til
the end of her recent solo series and her current limited series "the
Hand". As Jennifer says during the
"Comic-Con Presentation" featurette, they were making this film "for the
fans" and they "really only want praise from a select group of people;
those who grew up reading Elektra". As one of those people, i’d have to say
I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, this flick isn’t Catwoman-bad, it
just could’ve been better.