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Elektra's about as good as expected Ever since 'Spiderman' and 'X-Men' rocketed to success, Marvel Comics has rushed as many of their properties to be developed as feature films as time allows. Unfortunately for Marvel, most superheroes who are cultural icons were created by DC Comics, and so we've been treated to films about relatively obscure comic books like "Daredevil," "The Punisher," and now "Elektra." These films seem designed to fail; only comic-book geeks will recognize the names and show up on opening weekend, yet these same comic-book geeks will complain very loudly when the films deviate from the comics. I don't know how closely "Elektra" follows the comic-book and, quite frankly, I could care less. When "Elektra" works, it's due to the chemistry between Jennifer Garner as Elektra and Terrance Stamp as her blind mentor. Garner's a talented actress with a real knack for action sequences, but she needs to have a strong cast to play off. Outside of Stamp, absolutely no one provides Garner with what she needs, and so we have one meaningless action sequence after another. The villains are forgetten as soon as the film stops running, and the central conceit of the film - yet another martial arts "chosen one" story - is as cliched as they come. The result is a by-the-numbers action flick with occassional above-average characterizations. An average episode of "Alias" has better choreographed fight scenes than this movie. "Alias" also has far better writing, music, production values, and direction. If you're a Jennifer Garner or "Alias" fan and approach this movie in that light, you probably won't be badly disappointed. Just as in "Alias," Garner gets to confidently strut her stuff wearing fetish outfits and prove her mettle in multiple fight scenes. Although the suits at Marvel might have hoped this would spark a new franchise, "Elektra" is really just a side-project for a popular television actress. Aside from Garner fans, I can't imagine why anyone would want to sit through this when so many other, better action films are out there.