Crouching Tabby

After being resurrected from the dead, moribund sociopath Elektra (Jennifer Garner) sets about building a career as an assassin, a virtual Cuisinart of flashing steel. Her humanity is re-awakened when she is dispatched to whack a George Clooney knock-off and his annoying daughter and instead spirits them away to protect them from the nefarious intentions of a Chinese cabal referred to as The Hand (I kept waiting in vain for a “Talk to The Hand” joke). Stylized chop-socky ensues as a bevy of comic book killers (an illustrated man whose tats spring to life, a literal Typhoid Mary and various sundry ninjas that explode when killed) try to finish the job.

As befitting a spin-off from the mediocre Daredevil, Elektra is ultimately a completely disposable actioner, albeit a frequently tedious one. While flashy, the fight scenes are all sizzle and no steak, with slow build-ups resolved indifferently. Even worse, the climactic battle is visually annoying, a roomful of flying sheets that obscure the fighting.

As the action is sporadic at best, the rest of the film’s running time is padded out with creaky dialogue and numerous repetitive flashbacks that fail to provide a point. Actually, for all the nattering, it is never properly explained just what the hell is going on, and even when the movie does explain itself, it contradicts the earlier mechanizations of the script.

Essentially, this is a two-hour excuse for mouth-breather Garner to vamp about like a vanilla Jamie Lee Curtis, pausing at any given moment to position her curves in the best possible light as a wind machine snaps her hair about.