Electra, the blood velveted assassin; powerfully embodied by the incredible art talents of Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz; then to be bestowed life by the equally beautiful Jennifer Garner was enough get me to Electra, the movie.

---

Yet I still had a few reservations; they say the shortest distance between two places is a straight line; in fact that is a truism and in most cases it is something which our logical mind's like knowing. Usually, a good thing, except in three cases: novels, movies, and all other tales of interest across the medias. And sure as milk makes ice cream, I am sure the straight approach too, was the problem with Electra; in short the story's action/reaction plot exchanges were the straightest line I had ever seen in a film.

Unlike Daredevil which only featured her in a minor role as a pivital love intrest; marking her and Collin Ferrel as the only reason to watch the movie. Featuring Electra as the mainstay of a movie was smart, and cinematically it was well constructed with some visually shots of "cool" lite images, accented with a splash of "warm" light. All expertly shot in clear and uncluttered filmic style, a very competent job. Although, amazingly dynamic as the troubled tragic heroine of this tale; Garner has a shake when she struts that would put Cherry Jello to shame; stunningly stoic as ever in the role of Electra, Garner was a perfect fit. meta-creation_date: 2/9/2005 10:08:00

The movie opens with Electra's introduction, a legendary born again perfect assassin; one that never misses a kill. True to form she finishes a difficult job, a job which brings her entire life into question, she tries to take a break, sort out her priorities, but one last assignment pulls her back in . An assignment that leads to her becoming the defenders of her target. Typical, but I can accept that if it gets me to the action. But alas it really doesn't. Oh! we see action and meet the Hand, a corporate ninja hit squad; a hit squad made up of some of Marvel Comic's third rung villians: Typhoid Mary, Stone, Tattoo and Kink. The villians were fun to watch and had some pretty interesting powers, with well done special effects. Still it was all expected; almost predictabler and that was the problem with this movie .

By expected I don't mean that I knew everything that was going to happen it was just that it was all like a series of steps. Assassin kills victim, assassin lose internal edge, tries to break away but is led back into the asignment that they don't want, but can't refuse, only to then find their lost heart and turns over a new leaf thereby end up defending the very people in which they were assigned to kill. Taught love, thier humanity rekindled; the assassin goes on and saves the lives of the people and in turn opens themselves up to the world again; the end. Having read this; thats it, the whole movie. Simply put that sucks, Electra didn't have one twist in the entire stories road, not one speed bump, hell it didn't even have a small pot hole. I would have been happy if the story forced me to take a mad swerve in the road every now and again, just a jolt... anything to keep me awake; no such luck. Electra was still better than any of the loud boarish Laura Croft: Tomb Raider movies but atleast they were entirely bad, so that you are forced to develope an opininon one way or another. Electra is a safe bet and that is what makes it so weak as a film. Its just interesting enough to hold your attention while not engaging enough to keep you hanging on the edge of your seat.

A straight line can sometimes be great but not in movies and never in a good story. Electra had all the right elements lined up: cast, images, mielue, everything except for a story with some twist and turns. So I ask why go to the movies if the ride isn't a thrill? My straight line answer is don't. Save your money and if you have to see it and just can't wait for cable, put it in your netflix's que and hope Electra's next outing actually tells a tale.

PS. If you get a chance and want to read the real Electra story get the Electra Saga Graphic Novel written by Frank Miller and illustrated with some of the most inventive art I have ever seen; by Bill Sienkiewicz; then you will see what could have been and hopefully what will be the next movie.

It sounds like the only real reason to see this movie is if you have the hots for Jennifer Garner. It's kind of sad, really, because superhero movies used to be generally good. Now it seems Hollywood has discovered another genre to exploit not for good storytelling but purely for a bottom line.

Sad.

The fact is that it was just a very simple story not bad but not interesting. I have in fact seen badly told tales and mistold stories where just one element ruined the entire tale. Electra was just uninspiring simple background noise to watch some interesting images.

Much like Sky Crapptin and the Word is why bother which you like. LOL But I digress in this. It would be a better thing if they just tell a story its not that they are trying to ruin a genre they are all trying to rush the new opening and make the money before the well runs dry. But the hero genre is strong its a motif that has been around for the long haul and I think that it can take.