Elektra

June 25, 2005 - What do you get when you take stars from two hit TV shows and make them co-stars in the same movie? You get Elektra, a 2005 action flick based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.

Jennifer Garner (Sydney Bristow from Alias) reprises her role as Elektra Natchios, which she first played in the 2003 movie Daredevil. If you recall, Elektra died in that movie, but a martial arts master named Stick (played by Terence Stamp) knew some sort of martial arts technique and brought her back to life. He then set about training her in the mysterious ways of martial arts, but Elektra wasn't up to snuff so he kicked her out.

We find all that out through flashbacks. When the movie begins, Elektra is working as a highly-paid assassin who kills her mark and, just for fun, all of his henchmen. She even has an agent, and he convinces her to take an assignment when she'd rather take a vacation.

So, Elektra, who has a bad case of OCD, schleps off to a house in the mountains to await her assignment. There, she meets Goran Visnjic (Luka from ER) and his teenage daughter. She has Christmas dinner with them, kisses Luka good night, and then she finds out that the dude and his daughter are her targets. She takes aim with her bow and arrow but can't bring herself to shoot.

Instead, she goes over to the house and ends up saving them from henchmen sent by a group of evil-doers known as The Hand. It seems the teenage daughter is "the treasure" spoken of in legend, and if The Hand gets hold of her, well, it wouldn't be good.

The rest of the movie involves Elektra doing her damnedest to protect the treasure and her daddy. She gets some help from Stick along the way, but mostly it's Elektra doing the ass-kicking.

Overall review: *** I know. I'm probably giving this movie too much credit. The plot is kinda lame, but the action is pretty good, the special effects are good, and Jennifer Garner flat-out rocks. The film runs about 90 minutes and it held my interest. It also left open the possibility of a reunion between Elektra and Daredevil in a future movie.