Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: New Regency/Horseshoe Bay
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: 'A' (B+C untested)
Runtime: 1:39:50.651
Disc Size: 47,793,528,115 bytes
Feature Size: 32,310,226,944 bytes
Video Bitrate: 35.76 Mbps
Chapters: 28
Case: Standard Blu-ray Case
Release date: May, 4th, 2010
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080P / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 4039 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4039
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles:
English, French, Spanish, none
Extras:
• Audio Commentary by Director Rob Bowman & Film Editor
Kevin Stitt
• Production – (87:00)
• Post-Production – (53:00)
• Deleted Scenes
• Alternate/Extended Scenes
• Elektra Incarnations Mythology (Marvel)
• Elektra in Greek Mythology
The Film:
5
In 2003, Elektra Natchios died at the hands of Bullseye.
These two characters, created by Jennifer Garner and Colin
Farrell, and the dance between them were the best things
about Mark Johnson's movie that reconnected Miss Garner to
her future husband. Fox and Marvel figured they had a good
thing going in this character who only needed to be
resurrected for a spinoff. The resultant movie was directed
by Rob Bowman (The X-Files) from a screenplay by Zak Penn,
Stu Zicheman and Raven Metzner. They decided to create a
backstory for what was, I gather, in the Marvel comic
essentially a cold-blooded assassin. Jennifer, for better or
worse, gave her a heart.
We know that because on one of her first assignments, she is
unable to pull the trigger – or, in this case, let loose the
arrow. The story, which takes place in mid-career, concerns
that eternal struggle between the forces of evil and those
of good – both of whom use deadly means to achieve their
ends. Elektra has been summarily dismissed from the good
graces of "Stick" (Terence Stamp) and must make her way in
the big bad world on her own. She becomes an assassin for
hire and, dressed in her trademark deep red, she gets to be
pretty good at it.
In Marvel's incarnations Elektra has no superpowers, though
she is one hell of an athlete. Here she is arrayed against
several foes that do. It only makes sense to grant her
six-billion dollar abilities, not that any of them actually
level the playing field. Anyhow, back to her aborted
assignment: Elektra is sent to dispatch a father and
daughter (Goran Visnjic, Kirsten Prout) who live peaceably
for the moment in a nearby cabin. As it happens, those evil
forces we were talking about a while ago, known as The Hand,
are about to descend on said happy family and send them to
kingdom come. "Just who are you" Elektra demands as she
fends off the evildoers. And does she get a straight answer?
Not on your Sai!
Evidently Mark and Abby have in their possession something
The Hand wants. It is known as "The Treasure" which, if you
had been paying attention to the opening narration, you
would know what it is in a heartbeat, though it doesn't take
an advanced degree to guess correctly.
Image:
8/8
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Never having seen the movie in its theatrical release I
can't vouch for how the Blu-ray compares, for, except for a
wee bit of some edge enhancement, there aren't transfer
issues of concern. Blacks are solid, though there is a good
deal of crush going on. Some close-ups (see first two caps)
show good texture; at other times there are the effects of
what looks like push-processing. The grain can get pretty
mean at times, but this could be intentional and might not
indicate a problem with the transfer.
Audio & Music:
7/6
There's more going on here than meets the ear but, that
said, the uncompressed audio mix supports the action quite
well with plenty of punch, crunch, snap and crackle. Well,
maybe not so much crackle, but the whoosh of arrows and
flying spirits zooming this way and that is nicely realized
even if they are not always exquisitely localized. Oh yes –
and bass. It has that.
Operations:
6
Everything works but I still don't understand why the
"Search" tab on the main menu? One tab for chapters and one
for bookmarks, please!
Extras:
9
It happens every once in a while that the extra features are
better than the feature film, but in this case (none of
which are new) that difference only makes the movie seem
that much worse. This is particularly true of the two-part
production features (totaling almost two and half hours)
hosted by Director Bowman, who is forthcoming and candid
about his work. There are two Mythology features, the one
from Marvel that deals with the various incarnations of the
character and the one hosted by a professor of Greek Studies
who describes the various stories by Aeschylus, Sophocles
and Euripides. Needless to say, the latter offers only the
name to the present comic book figure.
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Bottom line:
6
Elektra is not a bad movie. It's just forgettable.
The girl (Kirsten Prout) is nice, and she has a sly smile.
She and Jennifer have it for a brief scene. Kristen holds
her own, considering. Image quality is inconsistent (which
may not be the fault of the transfer.) The audio does a good
job at pumping up the action. The Extra Features are super.
Leonard Norwitz
May 8th, 2010
