Elektra

Elektra is a terrible movie. Beyond debate about how closely it hues to the acclaimed comic it draws from in name only, beyond its associations with the mediocre (and by a smidgen, superior) Daredevil from which it spins off, Elektra is simply a mess: poor characterisation stretched taut through an implausible story inhabited by cartoonishly cardboard villains. And through it all, standing as nobly as one involved in such a ridiculous exercise can (and clad in revealing, skin-tight red silk) is Alias star Jennifer Garner, trying gamely to get this career sidetrack behind her. One can infer from the so-called bonus material on this DVD issue that if Garner had in fact been in charge of Elektra, it would have been a better film. She pushed for a return to the character's roots after the black leather-clad divergence in Daredevil; she seems committed to the character and aware of her complex journey as a comic heroine. But Garner was not in charge. And so X-Files director Rob Bowman sells his vision to the studio that will give him enough toys and the entire mess gets test-marketed and lowest common denominated into a flat, flavourless pancake absent of any thrills or real vision. On DVD, a second time, it's worse: Ben Affleck shows up in a Daredevil cameo. Plus: deleted scenes, "making of," "Inside the Editing Room," more. (Fox)