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Elektra Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: PG-13 (for action violence) Theater release: January 14, 2004 by 20th Century Fox Directed by: Rob Bowman Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes Cast: Jennifer Garner (Elektra), Goran Visnjic (Mark Miller), Kristen Prout (Amber Miller), Terence Stamp (Stick), Will Yun Lee (Kirigi), Colin Cunningham (McCabe), Chris Ackerman (Tattoo), Natassia Malthe (Typhoid), Bob Sapp (Stone) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

In case you haven't noticed, Hollywood is officially obsessed with comic book films these days. It's understandable considering the runaway success of Spider-Man and X-Men, and thanks to technological advancements in computer generated imagery (CGI), characters first written thirty to fifty years ago are coming to life on the big screen.

Would it surprise you to learn that there are more than ten Marvel Comics titles in development for release in the next two years? That doesn't even include films inspired by DC Comics like Constantine, Batman Begins, and Superman, or for that matter, the lesser known graphic novels and comics also hitting theaters. Not that all filmgoers will recognize these heroes and the histories they bear, which means the stories will be refreshingly new to some while leaving others asking, "Do we really need a movie for every comic book character ever conceived?"

Jennifer Garner, in the title role, makes sure her enemies get the point

Elektra is centered on a war fought in the shadows between good and evil, with a woman prophesied to tip the balance … blah blah blah. Wait, isn't this the gal who died in 2003's Daredevil starring Ben Affleck? Indeed, Jennifer Garner (13 Going on 30, TV's Alias) reprises her role as Greek assassin Elektra Natchios, who was mortally wounded by Bullseye in Daredevil, though the film's ending suggested she could have somehow survived.

It's not until fifteen minutes into Elektra that we learn she was revived by a blind martial arts master named Stick (?!?!). In the comics, this is appropriately enough the same guy who taught the equally blind Daredevil to fight, which goes to show that the blind can in fact successfully lead the blind. Played by Terence Stamp of Superman II and The Haunted Mansion, Stick is trained in the ways of Kimagure, some sort of ninja magic reminiscent of the Force in Star Wars that allows lesser pupils to see the future (and anticipate moves) and stronger disciples to revive the recently deceased. Call it a cheat, but it's true to the comic book.

Sent away from Stick's order because she doesn't "understand the way," a directionless Elektra goes back to work as a cold-blooded paid assassin. Her agent McCabe gives her minimal details for a new high-paying job that requires her to travel to an upscale lakeside home and wait for further orders. So she arrives at the house and waits … and we wait with her for nearly thirty minutes before the first real action sequence. Taking full advantage of Garner's good looks, the filmmakers have Elektra spend her down time by working out, swimming, and arranging fruit and toiletries (apparently due to some obsessive compulsive disorder). She also meditates and reveals her troubled childhood to the audience—when she was very young, Elektra's mother was killed by some sort of ninja/demon.

Elektra befriends a neighbor (Goran Visnjic) and his teenage daughter

There is a dramatic point to this pokey pacing besides giving us a glimpse of Elektra's back-story. During her wait, the robotic assassin meets the neighbors—Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic of TV's ER) and his adolescent daughter Amber (Kristen Prout). After forming a reluctant bond with Mark and Amber, Elektra finally receives details about her assignment—and guess who the targets are? This forces her into a crisis of conscience that draws her back into the aforementioned battle with evil, represented by a shadowy ninja association known as The Hand. Their goal is to recover "the treasure," whose mystery Elektra must solve to protect the Millers and perhaps regain her honor.

To be honest, the mystery is an overdone plot device that's not that hard to guess. Screenwriter Zak Penn may have delivered with X2, but he's also responsible for stinkers like Suspect Zero and Behind Enemy Lines. Though he remains fairly true to the folklore of the source material, his story relies on too many clichés and conveniences. Like Terminator 2 and Nowhere to Run, this is the familiar tale of the reluctant hero who protects a family and fills a parental-shaped vacancy in the process. There's a lot of deus ex machina, with everything suddenly turning out okay just when it all seems lost—with the power to resurrect the dead at your disposal, it unfortunately kills the story's sense of jeopardy. Naturally, there's the big winner-takes-all, mano a mano showdown at the end. And without saying too much about the ending, lets just say that it's an odd and unclear future that doesn't gel with the rest of the film's developments, only existing to leave a wide berth for a potential sequel.

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Sure, the special effects are great, but there's something more drawing us to these fantastic stories.