smartbomb

Wow. This is a real horror classic. It's also a horror film that doesn't need supernatural monsters. Amoral behaviour and some bad luck provide plenty of terror.

Great acting, direction and cinematography, and an unsettlingly believable plot make watching this a very tense experience. The excellent musical score works amazingly well to reflect and heighten the powerful emotions depicted - fear, rage, hope and hopelessness.

If its technical achievements were all it had going for it, I would fully recommend it, but the movie has a brain as well and puts it over the top.

Excellent film that transcends the genre. Not easy to watch, but very powerful.

I rated this movie 5/10, which seemed kind of harsh for a movie whose first half I enjoyed so much. I liked the initial introduction to the character, her "agent", even the condensed backstory as flashbacks. I didn't even mind her relationship with the girl and her father (though it really doesn't make sense given that the character is psychotic; she's an assassin for crying out loud,) because it was handled surprisingly well.

As the movie progresses however, little stupid things and inconsistencies start cropping up. You try not to notice because overall things are going well. But when it comes time for the real action, it's a bit of a letdown (the "sheet fight" was dumb, there was too much running through the forest and the maze, and Elektra seems to become incompetent and needs to be rescued a number of times.)

I think the main problem is the inclusion of too many mystical elements and the attempt to humanize Electra too much. The film would've worked better if it were more grounded in reality to provide a more realistic sense of tension. Elektra the character is supposed to be enigmatic - an unapproachable, unfathomable killer. Yet by the end of the movie I felt like I was watching Sidney from Alias.

I've only seen a few episodes so far, but watching this show reminds me of watching one of those nameless European soaps one sees when traveling in Europe... except that you can understand the dialogue.

That said, there's a kind of natural feel to the show and its characters; even if the subject matter isn't all that deep (maybe even a bit sleazy) the plot moves along at a decent clip and can keep you hooked. Plus it's a daily show which is pretty impressive.

Nice to see a local (Toronto) show that's actually about Toronto and doesn't feel like it was made by some committee of government bureaucrats.