Elektra

Review by Richard Lee

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / 2004 / 97 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: April 5, 2005

Specifications:
-DVD-Video
-DVD-9
-Region 1

Aspect Ratio:
-2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:
-English 5.1 DTS
-English 5.1 Dolby Digital
-French Dolby Surround
-Spanish Dolby Surround

Subtitle Options:
-English
-Spanish
-None

Main Menu:
-Play
-Language Selection
-Scene Selection
-Special Features
-Inside Look

Special Features:
-Deleted Scenes
-The Making of Elektra
-Comic-Con Presentation
-Inside the Editing Room
-Theatrical Teaser
-Theatrical Trailer
-Soundtrack
-American Dad
-Family Guy

With the onslaught of comic book super-heroes being adapted to blockbuster motion pictures currently underway, we now are given Frank Miller’s Elektra. As those of you who may have seen “Daredevil” remember, the character of Elektra, who is played both in that movie and this one by Alias’s Jennifer Garner, was supposedly killed off by Bullseye. But as comic book fans already know, you can’t keep a popular hero down for too long; they almost always come back in some form or another. Dying from fatal stab wounds, Elektra is resurrected here, either by a de-fib kit or a blind sensei, played by Terence Stamp, it is never clearly explained. Elektra spends some time at the blind sensei’s assassin camp but is reprimanded for getting off on the violence. This makes her an effective hit lady and the movie picks up with Elektra fulfilling a routine assignment. Soon after, she is given the task of terminating a father and daughter by a clandestine and sinister Asian club called The Hand. But as fate would have it, she lets her emotions get the better of her and gets attached to the two, not knowing that they harbor secrets of their own. Once their would-be killer, Elektra is now their protector who must battle another group of assassins who include ninjas, a beautiful woman named Typhoid who brings death with her touch, and Tattoo (not the one from Fantasy Island) whose animal tattoos come to life in spectacular fashion.

“Elektra” is directed by Rob Bowman, who is best known for directing many episodes of “The X-Files” as well as the movie based on the TV series. Given that most of his work is on TV and Jennifer Garner is a TV actress, Elektra comes off as a movie that may have been better suited for TV were it not for the large production budget. The story suffers from lapses in logic and characters that appear and disappear without explanation. The villains themselves are extremely hollow; we are never given their backgrounds and motivations. They are simply cardboard baddies who exhibit their abilities and are then quickly dispatched without any concern from us for the good guy or the bad guy. That said, this movie is still semi-enjoyable for its look and sound during the couple of instances of action and Jennifer’s red satin costume; just leave your brain on hold while you watch it.

Picture Quality:

Overall, the picture looks good with the widescreen aspect ratio giving maximum scope to the action. Sharpness is more on the soft side and color saturation is high, particularly during flashback scenes. Black levels are very high, especially during dark scenes where detail is compromised while the lighter scenes look fine with low levels of edge enhancement.

Audio Quality:

Thankfully, the DVD comes with a DTS audio option. It’s the most they can do, before HD-DVD of course to make this movie as enjoyable as they can make it. The LFE channel is well represented during action scenes and channel separation is clear especially when arrows, daggers, and other projectiles are whizzing by the viewer; rain surrounds you as if it were really happening outside while all along, dialogue is clear. A Dolby Digital track is also provided but only if you don’t have a DTS decoder. 

Scenes for Demonstration Purposes:

1. (32:25) – Ninjas in the House. 2. (52:20) – X-Men Rejects Show Up. 3. (71:30) – Showdown in the House of Flying Bedsheets.

Special Features:

On DVD start-up, you get an anti-piracy ad that is beginning to show up on more of the major studio releases; right after is another ad for upcoming or already released Fox DVD’s. Deleted Scenes, which comes with the convenient “play all” option, offer three segments which were edited out – “Sai Approach” is an alternative take of Elektra preparing to kill her targets with knives instead of arrows; “Come Back to Me” is the most interesting scene with a cameo by Ben Affleck reprising his role as Matt Murdock, the blind superhero, Daredevil. Be amazed as he looks directly at Electra during this scene. “Rounding Up The Troops” shows the blind sensei deciding to go rescue Elektra from assassins. “The Making of Elektra” is a 13 minute featurette which has interviews with director Bowman and Garner and covers martial arts training and costume design. “Comic-Con Presentation” is a short absentee tape submitted to the convention to get the comics fans excited about the impending release of “Elektra”. “Inside The Editing Room” offers 4 scenes introduced by the director strictly for promotional purposes. Aside from the theatrical teaser and trailer, there is an ad for Elektra The Album and promos for Fox TV’s American Dad and The Family Guy. Lastly, there’s “Inside Look” which gives glimpses into the forthcoming Fox productions “Fantastic Four” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”.