Elektra

(Herald rating: * *)

Elektra is the first comic-adventure film to hit our screens this year, although there is a good chance it won't be the most memorable. Based on the Marvel comic character, Elektra isn't as impressive as the Spiderman and X-Men franchises, but is better than the Ben Affleck-led Daredevil, which spawned this spin-off.

Jennifer Garner takes her Alias butt-kicking behaviour to new heights with this role as a warrior without limits. We might have seen her die in Daredevil, but for the box office she is brought back to life by her blind martial arts teacher Stick (Stamp), and she is in one foul mood. Dark, sexy and moody, Elektra scowls and pouts for most of the film, an easy look to generate for Garner, thanks to what look suspiciously like cosmetically enhanced lips.

Expelled from the safety of her martial arts retreat, Elektra works as an assassin for whoever will pay the required fee. She is full of secrets, dangerous, and emotionally hardened, but Garner comes across as, well, soft. You feel you could sit her down and talk her out of a kill, and that's exactly what happens.

When Elektra fails to complete a mission for the Order of the Hand, a powerful organisation whose members practise the dark martial art of ninjitsu, she becomes embroiled in a plot to tip the world's balance of good and evil. Discovering she is more than just a cold-hearted killer for hire, Elektra has to face the fight of her life.

While the film makes an effort to create a dark and stylised world, it feels empty of script ideas and story, and is filled with every cliched comic character imaginable.

Avid fans of Marvel are likely to feel short-changed by this creation, however Elektra's Dolce & Gabbana-inspired outfit should keep teenage boys happily transfixed.

CAST: Jennifer Garner, Goran Visnjic, Terence Stamp, Jason Isaacs, Will Yun Lee
DIRECTOR: Rob Bowman
RUNNING TIME: 97 mins
RATING: M (medium level violence)
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts Berkeley Cinemas