# Jennifer Garner's new Elektra costume revealed



## Kai Lord (Jul 6, 2004)

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0407/02/elektra.htm


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## Green Knight (Jul 6, 2004)

Eh, I'll have to read some reviews before I decide if I want to check the movie out or not. I got nothing against Jennifer Garner or the character of Elektra, but I wasn't exactly left wanting more after seeing Daredevil. It was an okay movie. Not bad, but not particularly great, either. Well, we'll see. Chances are I'll just wait til it's out on DVD, like with Punisher.


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## Hand of Evil (Jul 6, 2004)

Mmmmm, padded!    

SLAP!


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## takyris (Jul 6, 2004)

I must've been the only person who was really irked by _Daredevil_.  I just didn't like it very much at all -- not because it was uniformly bad, but because it was selectively bad in specific areas, blowing all the promise that it had in so many other parts.   The effects to mimic Murdock's senses?  Fantastic.  Well-used.  The scenes in the diner with Foggy?  Great dialogue.  Good sense of the people together.  That scene at the funeral where Elektra puts up the umbrella, symbolically vanishing from Matt's senses?  Goosebumps.

But the action scenes?  Ech.  Blocky, poorly choreographed, and no sense of emotion or excitement at all.  How do you make a comic-book movie and do such a nice job with characterization and out-of-costume scenes and then blow the fights so badly?  The scene with Affleck and Garner out of costume in the playground... it was embarrassing.  Look, I know they aren't real-life martial artists.  I'm not asking for Jet Li or Wesley Snipes.  But come on, make it look more like people actually doing real moves instead of moving their arms into the appropriate positions as though doing some new dance moves.  And, as a director/choreographer, decide up-front whether you want your fights to be realistic or acrobatic, and then stick with that, instead of doing this mishmash of "now they're doing enormous leaps, and *now* it's a gritty realistic -- no, no, they're leaping again -- er, and now it's solid and intense..."  Both styles can look good on film, and heck, a really great movie could conceivably work back and forth between the two.  But this one just fell utterly flat for me.

Of course, I'm a fight scene snob.  Sometimes the master must weep while the students laugh, and vice versa...


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## barsoomcore (Jul 6, 2004)

takyris said:
			
		

> I must've been the only person who was really irked by _Daredevil_.



Oh, no. By no means. It's one of those films that actually makes me angry. Absolutely NO chemistry between Elektra and Daredevil, which, excuse me, but isn't that sort of a problem?

I'm not yet sold on Garner. I don't think she's MEAN enough to be Elektra.

And totally agreed on the fight scenes. Lame-o-rama.

I am, however, reasonably convinced that it will be better than _Catwoman_.


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## Dimwhit (Jul 6, 2004)

barsoomcore said:
			
		

> I am, however, reasonably convinced that it will be better than _Catwoman_.




Dude, my home video of the kids eating lunch is probably better than Catwoman will be...

As for Elektra, I'm interested. She was the only redeemable part of Daredevil, and I think Jennifer Garner will pull it off.


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## takyris (Jul 6, 2004)

> Oh, no. By no means. It's one of those films that actually makes me angry. Absolutely NO chemistry between Elektra and Daredevil, which, excuse me, but isn't that sort of a problem?




Definitely agree.  Curious, though -- offhand, what action movies *did* have good onscreen chemistry between the romance people?  The romance part seems to be a constant letdown, the part that the directors sort of put on the back-burner as something that's going to take care of itself while they're working on the big action scene.

My personal picks:

Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the recent _Zorro_, which had decent swashbucklish fights and some moments of good chemistry (with the exception of the "cutting her clothes off" bit, which I thought was forced).

The leads in _Romancing the Stone_, which, although not a blow-up-ten-national-monuments summer blockbuster by today's standards, did have a lot of action in it.

Those could be colored by nostalgia, though.  Not much I've seen recently has done it for me.  The first _Spider-man_ movie lost me with Mary-Jane, who seemed actively unpleasant in some of her scenes -- sometimes mercenary, sometimes just neurotic, and with clinginess at the end that had me cringing.



> I'm not yet sold on Garner. I don't think she's MEAN enough to be Elektra.




Possibly agree, depending on what you mean.  I think that Garner is a good enough actress to portray someone who is driven and ruthless, but I don't think her physical movement conveys that same confidence (yet -- hopefully a few more movies and seasons of _Alias_ will turn her into a decent action movie heroine).  So she might have me believing in her right up until the action scene starts, and then she's throwing a punch that is hesitant or amateurish -- not girlish, necessarily, just "I've had several lessons, and I know that I'm supposed to do this with my shoulder" without the "I'm going to effing *mess someone up* when I hit them" that really sells it onscreen.



> And totally agreed on the fight scenes. Lame-o-rama.




That and the fact that the chemical spill must have slipped some admantium into Matt Murdock's knees, so that he can leap forty feet down and land on a concrete rooftop with his legs straight without either popping his kneecaps off or sinking ankle-deep into the rooftop like the Tick...



> I am, however, reasonably convinced that it will be better than Catwoman.




No argument there, either.


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## barsoomcore (Jul 7, 2004)

My only view of Garner has been her Elektra turn in _Daredevil_ so I don't know what she's capable of, acting-wise. I didn't think her performance there was anything very impressive, but one performance doesn't tell you very much about an actor.

The Elektra in my head is ruthless and cold and utterly merciless. She understands the stakes she's playing for and never hesitates. ESPECIALLY in her "fights". She doesn't go for the disable -- she goes for the kill. She's scary. I'm not sure that this actress can go there. We'll see.

Romantic chemistry in action movies? Sure. Jet Li and Brigitte Lin in _Swordsman II_. Brigitte Lin and Tony Leung in _The Bride WIth White Hair_. Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin and Tony Leung (the other Tony Leung) in _Dragon Inn_. Hm, Brigitte Lin and anyone, I guess. 

Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn in _Aliens_. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn in _Terminator_. Hm, Michael Biehn and Brigitte Lin, anyone?

Danny Lee and Chow Yun-Fat in _The Killer_. 

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in _The Mummy_.

Lucy Lawless and Rene O'Connor in _Xena: Warrior Princess_.

I'm just getting started here....  


			
				Dimwhit said:
			
		

> Dude, my home video of the kids eating lunch is probably better than Catwoman will be...



That depends. Is Halle Berry in it? No? Then you're right. It's better than _Catwoman_ will be.


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## Viking Bastard (Jul 7, 2004)

I like Jennifer Garner, but she is no Elektra. Maybe it's just the script 
 or direction, but the Daredevil movie didn't give us Elektra but Sidney 
 Bristow playing Superhero.

 At least the costume's the right colour.


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## Eosin the Red (Jul 7, 2004)

I will take a little of the contrary opinion of how Elektra should be portrayed. Elektra is a world-class piece of art not because she is bad to the bone but because she was a lost child looking for a way to assuage her pain by repaying her tormentors. Depending on the evolution of Elektra in the movies, she may not have fallen to the dark side - yet.

Elektra, like Magneto is driven by a goal that they know to be good, unfortunately the manner in which they seek to achieve it leads them down a path of damnation. The best movie “tumbling into the abyss” scenes IMO were in Training Day – Alanzo [Denzel] is a near perfect analog for Elektra.  We don’t want her to be a ruthless killing machine out of the gates – the correct evolution of her story has to include her tumble into that abyss that makes her a cold hearted monster.   

Now, on to the movie. I do not know if JG has the moxy to pull it off either. But unless Denzel is willing to undergo a sex change, I am willing to give her a shot at it. Off hand the only female who has the oomph IMO is Linda Hamilton who, again IMO, is too old and has the wrong look for Elektra.

PS – anybody have any good suggestions for female who could take the roll?


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## Berandor (Jul 7, 2004)

I didn't care for Daredevil, either, except for Farrell's Bullseye (and parts of Kingpin and Electra). But Bullseye ruled (until he missed DD with the shards, which sucked)!

I think there are several Asian actresses who could pull Electra off, "oomph-wise", but they don't fit the character "heritage-wise"  Of course, Hollywood doesn't hesitate to make Asian characters white, so...

Eliza Dushku might be a nice choice, or Michelle Rodriguez (see above). But an actress with feline grace who is able to convincingly perform a well-choreographed fight (read: not filmed in close-ups) is hard to find. Carrie-Ann Moss? Patricia Velasquez (?, the woman who played Ankh-Sun-Amun in the Mummy films)? On second thought, whe might have been good for the role.


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## Enchantress (Jul 8, 2004)

I absolutely HATED Daredevil with a passion.  It sucked beyond belief IMHO.  As far as the new costume goes, I think I liked her old one more, go figure.  The new one just seems to..... Feminine.  It kind of looks like something you would find at Victoria's Secrets.  I just always pictured more..... Leather.  Her new one is too velvety for my taste. :\


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## Klaus (Jul 9, 2004)

"Daredevil" kept me awake in a veeeeery long Brazil->USA flight, where I watched it twice in a row. And in the return flight I slept through The Core (!!!).

I like the movie, and I liked Garner as Elektra. The way I heard it, the red costume is one of several outfits she'll wear during the movie. They tried remaking the comics costume as-is, but the skirt didn't work, so they traded that in for long pants. Dunno if they'll keep the bandana, though.


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