A Review of Elektra Starring Jennifer Garner

Critics. I will never understand them. Why do they act like everything that illuminates the big screen is meant to teach us a lesson, to affect our views on society or the world, to help us find the deeper meaning of life? Sometimes it is almost as if they are peering through the looking glass, searching, straining for some greater consciousness and transcendence to a higher spiritual plane. I don’t know about you, but when I go to a movie, I just want to be entertained. And to that end, “Elektra,” the comic book turned motion picture starring Jennifer Garner, works.

I will be the first to admit, this is not an Oscar-caliber movie. And that’s fine – because that is something it doesn’t aspire to. The dialogue isn't especially witty or clever, but hey, we’re not adapting a literary classic here or watching a Woody Allen flick. It’s a comic book, people. Take it for what it is. (I’ve always considered “comic book” to be a misnomer. Most of them for several years have been dark and serious. They should be called graphic novellas, but that doesn’t sound as cool does it?) And to compare it to Spider-Man 2 or even X-Men is ludicrous. 

Yes, they all exist in a similar universe, but Spider-Man was an affable geek who had a bad reaction to spider venom, and the X-Men are genetically-challenged humans forced to fight for their right to survive. Their backgrounds are unique, their stories different and not nearly as tragic as Elektra’s. Hers must be taken in a completely different context. I do not recommend walking into the theater expecting to find the meaning of life, but if you want to be analytical, however, it can certainly be done.

Jennifer Garner’s portrayal of the crimson warrior is being criticized for being too stiff and cold. Well, hmm. I guess one would expect her to be jumping out of a jack-in-the-box in a big, polka-dotted clown suit with a rubber nose and goofy grin on her face. After all, this is a movie about an assassin for hire. Shouldn’t it be all fun, games, and smiley faces?

Please.