Elektrik Boogie

Elektra (Rob Bowman, 2005) - mixed-

Color me surprised. After the abysmal Daredevil, I can't claim I went after this seemingly pointless spin-off, featuring the love/bane of Daredevil's existence, the mysterious and cold-blooded hired assassin Elektra, with any high hopes. In the comic book, Elektra was a great supporting player, adding a sinister and dark edge to the dangers DD had to face, whether he was fighting for, with or against her. It's to Frank Miller's credit that he never allowed her to become an all-out good gal, but rather stay ambiguous and dangerous to everybody around her – and her death in the comic book is still somewhat of a trauma for me, after reading it for the first time when I was around nine or ten.

Would it kill ya to use the door?

As a main character however, Elektra never fully worked. The movie can't shake that feeling, but it does what it can with surprising efficiency, and what’s more important, without much of the cringe-inducing and ridiculous moments that were so prominent in Daredevil (and most other action films, for that matter). Never mind that the plot is standard chosen-one stuff, and is so thin that even at 88 minutes it feels pretty stretched out; at least the film chooses a style and sticks with it, rarely venturing into deep waters. I was impressed with many of the visuals too - the 'Tattoo' thug/ninja/demon guy was an especially inspired creation. Bottom line: decent Westernized ninja B-action – you don’t see that every day.