Elektra, 2004 - DVD

They got the color of her suit right. They got the basics of Stick right.

Am I missing anything else?

I couldn't believe how boring the first hour of a supposed action film could be, until I saw this film. And then, when there were action scenes, they were simply tame and awful.

Rob Bowman, who gave us The X-Files movie and Reign of Fire (which I happened to enjoy) gives us a halfway decent looking, but boring, film.

And it's pretty clear it's not his fault.

After pretty much ruining the Daredevil film, Fox and Marvel decided to cash in some more, and give us an Elektra that no comic book fan could recognize. Ok, they could recognize her a little...

I'm a big fan of the Elektra character, but she lived and died with Frank Miller. I don't appreciate Marvel giving her her own books and history that isn't Frank Miller's. It's sad, and a money making scheme.

From the pages of Daredevil to Elektra: Assassin to Eletra Lives... that's it.

I can't tell you how happy I was that they got Stick somewhat right. Finding him in the pool room was perfect. Terence Stamp is a good actor... so I wasn't upset with the casting choice of him as Stick...

But why, why in God's name do the powers that be feel they can change the characters around just so that they'll fit the script? I think that's the mark of a pretty bad writer, if you have to change the origins of characters just to make the script work.

The Elektra character, first of all, lost her mom just before her mom gave birth. Her dad was shot, not killed accidentaly by Daredevil's cane... god, that movie was awful.

And what about Stone? When in the hell did he become a badguy? Typhoid... obviously a take on Typhoid Mary, a villian in the Daredevil series... awful. What a waste.

One of the saving graces in the film is Kirsten Prout. Her character is written quite well, and her acting is very good. Thank god for her in this film.

After seeing Sydney in the last three seasons of Alias, I didn't buy Garner as Elektra at all. She was ok in the doses we received her in, in Daredevil... but here, I was not convinced at all.

Oh, and since when... Jesus Christ, since when does Elektra, the kick ass assassin... who in the hell thought it was a good idea for her to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Zak Penn has given us some pretty good stories over the years. Last Action Hero, Behind Enemy Lines, X2 (story), Suspect Zero... what happened? He's got 3 movies coming out in the next year or so. John Doe, which he's directing as well, Spy Hunter for John Woo and X-Men 3... let's hope he doesn't follow a similar path of crap writing.

Who Stu Zicherman? I have no idea. He wrote 2000AD, a Hong Kong action film... then this. How does that happen? Zicherman is now writing the script for Deathlok... and if he repeats his performance there, we'll have another boring Marvel action film with little to no action.

Raven Metzner is Zicherman's writing partner. 'Nuff said.

There are no redeeming qualities to this film. There's nothing that would warrant a repeat viewing.

How do you define a successful comic book movie? By how much money it made in the box office? How close they stuck with the origins of the characters? How faithful they are to the comics? I guess it depends on who you ask.

We've been given a slew of them over the past four, five years... and I can only think of a few movies that came close to being as they should have been. Spider-Man 2, The Punisher (I know, most of you hated it, but at least they stuck to some of Garth Ennis' storyline), Hellboy, X2... yeah, that's about all I can think of.

It's too bad. The first Spider-Man and X-Men movies should have taught a lot of people a very valuable lesson. Trying to appease everyone makes a crap movie. Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer were being pulled in so many different directions... that the movies were ultimately pretty awful. Cool effects, terrible story.

The second time around, they let them make the movies... and they're both very well done.

Who's going to want to see a Deathlok movie? Or a Luke Cage movie? Black Widow? Probably the same people who wanted a Steel movie. I mean, come on. These are not key characters, and certainly don't warrant their own films. Sure, you might hit. You might... but chances are, with the films that have come out in the recent past, you're not going to.

It's a shame. Flooding the market with comic book movies seems to be the same thing Marvel did back in the early 90's, by flooding the market with crap comics to compete with Image. Why bother? Stick with what works. Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3... do we really need an Iron Fist or Sub-Mariner movie? Why not a Captain America movie? That would be much better. I mean, shit, look what happened to Man-Thing... sheesh.