elektra

[amezri]

Went to Crossgates with Berta and Steve for dinner and a movie. We had dinner at Houlihan's (discount movie tickets, yay!). It's sort of helpful to go into certain movies expecting it to be the worst thing since... "Daredevil." That way, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Trailers first:
+ xXx: State of the Union? Uhm. WHY?!
+ Wedding Date. Meh.
+ Alone in the Dark looks pretty good.
+ Mr. & Mrs. Smith looks highly entertaining. Angelina and Brad both do good action films.
+ Fantastic Four! OMGYAY (if Alba were gone). Alba is so not Sue. Hell, I'd take Gellar over Alba, and that's saying something. On the other hand, there's Ioan and Julian. *squee*

Elektra SPOILERS
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Loved the opening sequence. Marvel has a really good track record for opening sequences, I think. The ink drawings bleeding in and out were so perfect. The visuals in the movie were pretty good. I really loved the scene changes, which were way better than in "Daredevil." I'm so glad there is a completely different team on this film.

Jason Issacs was uncredited! That is so wrong. And I thought there were other DeMarco scenes in the trailer, so I'm confused. I seem to remember a scene with him in military gear. Of course, I might be doing the crack again.

Abby: You really kill people for a living?
Elektra: Yeah.
Abby: Why?
Elektra: It's what I'm good at.
Abby: That's messed up.

Elektra. It's nice to see some backstory, however minimal. I thought it was odd that Kirigi was the one who killed her mother because, I dunno... he seems around her age, but I guess I'm wrong. I've never read the Elektra comics, so I don't really know much about her story except for some pretty basic stuff. Jennifer was great in the role, not that I had any doubt. I liked that Elektra was a bit more human than the comic character, who probably would have just killed Abby & Mark and felt a tiny bit bad about it later. Elektra has OCD - which is amusing for no reason other than the fact that it's.. amusing. And it's another way for her to connect with Abby. Then again, isn't it true that gifted people are OCD, even if just a tiny bit?

McCabe. Colin Cunningham! I liked McCabe a lot and was sad when he got killed by Kirigi. *sniffle*

Abby Miller. Two Stargate guest stars! I guess that's what happens when you shoot in Vancouver. I don't really have much to say about the character, but if she's The Treasure, and the Hand wants her on their side, killing Kirigi probably wouldn't stop them. In fact, I think it'd make Roshi want her even more.

Mark Miller. Goran Visnjic is the hotness. I wish there had been more about him and Abby - like where she learned martial arts in the first place. Maybe I missed it. I mean, I thought she'd been to Stick's temple before, but then it seemed like Mark & Abby didn't recognize him in the woods - it's possible they were faking in the pool hall, but.. *shrug*

Kirigi. Will Yun Lee is purdah. Kirigi was awesome and I can't believe the Elektra/Kirigi fight was that short and slightly effortless. Meh. Someone should have been bloody. I'm lumping Kirigi's crew here. Typhoid was interesting, but it's no fun that we didn't get to see her more often. Stone was dispatched too quickly. I don't even know who Kinkou was and what his power was because didn't Abby kill him? Geez. Tattoo had some great visual effects, though it's a pretty big weakness to have to sit there and concentrate that hard - as we saw. While we're on the subject of baddies - what was with the poof of smoke? Blah.

Scanning some IMDB user reviews, a lot of the negativity seems to be based on blind hate and ignorance. There were some saying it made no sense that the Hand was trying to kill Elektra. Uhm. Cultural ignorance? The Hand, in this film, is basically a Japanese mob. The Japanese are all about pride and honor - so when the first guy fails to kill Abby & Mark, he's pretty much shunned by the rest of the committee - because a gaijin (somewhat derogatory term meaning "foreigner") had beaten them. Tere were some other things like that, but I can't think of them now.

I do agree that this film isn't a blockbuster. It's definitely better than "Daredevil," but it felt like half a movie. I wanted there to be more at the end, and not really because I liked it so much. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great film, but it felt like there needed to be more. Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent movie. They can't all be the next X-Men or Spider-Man.

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End SPOILERS

NPR summarizes the bad reviews "Elektra" has been getting -_-; Seriously, people, it's not that bad!

So, obviously I didn't get a chance to watch tonight's Lost or Alias. I've skimmed some reactions though, so I can't wait to torrent :-P

Comments

[antheia.livejournal.com]

I loved the movie, but it's relationship to the comics is almost nil.

In addition to having a crapload of the comics on my computer (which I could break up and send to you via yousendit, should you wish), I've been keeping up with Ultimate Elektra and The Hand. UE is...okay; The Hand is quite interesting, and does some really neat backstory that explains a lot of why they don't like Westerners. ::shrug::

Like I said, I loved the movie, but I really treated it as its own entity.

[amezri.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you sort of have to treat comic adaptations as their own thing.

I'd be interested in reading The Hand series. Has it finished yet, or is it still going?

[antheia.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not sure if it's finished, I hope not, but it's possible.