Elektra

The fact I had heard only bad things about this movie was probably it's only saving grace in making it vaguely watchable. For a comic book movie it's visually disappointing and relatively tame.

Jennifer Garner plays Elektra, who is portrayed as an attractive female assassin, with a troubled past and little regard for anything else. She kills on contract, seemlingly relatively uninterested in the fee, finding fleeting fulfillment in doing something she's "good at". The plot follows a fairly standard and uninspiring storyline as she becomes emotionally involved with her next targets, and ends up battling to protect them against a darker force.

Jennifer Garner was having trouble making her bed again...

Despite having a mix of strangely shaped knives, dart guns, martial arts and a fairly impressive pimped out bow and arrow, the action scenes are, in general drab and poorly shot. Marvel Enterprises have, in recent times become accustomed to being involved with some stunning-looking movies, with impressively crisp and inventive action scenes; this is not one of them. While the storyline requires the viewer to make concessions to reality, the photography is relatively bland and unimpressive, sticking well within the laws of the real world. This is coupled with some Windows Movie Maker special effects, especially the pathetic wisps of greenish smoke that emanate from the bad guys as they die.

The storyline is poorly explained; with little effort to even attempt to reveal the reasons behind the odd powers that some of the individuals possess. The group of bad guys have little or no history, and are a motley crew, but not in a good way; they look like baddies from a cheap theatre production. This is one of only three big screen movies that Rob Bowman has directed, and it feels like he could have done a better job with a short series, an area in which he is more acquainted. This would have allowed him to provide background on the characters and a clearer storyline.

Comic books, and the movies which follow often attempt to tie together supernatural and human sides to the story; Superman is Clark Kent, Spiderman is Peter Parker, the X-Men are in a constant battle to live in harmony with a humanity intent on making them outcasts. This often leads to intense emotional battles, between characters as well as within themselves. Elektra is disappointing in that it barely feels it necessary to mention "the real world"; the storyline plays out in a world far detached from reality, and therefore from human interest.

To enjoy this movie at all, it is essential not to take it too seriously; it is nothing special, nothing new and nothing groundbreaking, but vaguely watchable for the fleeting glimpses of a woman with daggers.

Rating: 
If you're a comic movie fan, watch for the sake of completion. Otherwise, pretty disappointing.

Don Lucho

For some reason, most likely disappointing student routine, I found myself up after 2am last night. The human drama of the San Jose mine story had grabbed my attention earlier in the day, and it just so happened that I inadvertently returned to the live BBC news streaming just in time to see the culmination of the piece. The last man to exit the mine was the foreman of the shift, 54 year old Luis Urzua. He had held things together down the mine, affectionately and respectfully given the Godfather-esque name "Don Lucho".

It struck me as an iconic moment, rare and worth savouring and considering. The character and charisma of the man is something to be admired; he helped his mother raise his six siblings when his father died at the age of ten, and this leadership and sense of order helped him keep 33 of his colleagues alive. He stepped from the Phoenix shuttle that had taken him from 700m below the ground, and stepped out into the embrace of the President of Chile. It was the classic story of the pauper and the monarch; a billionaire with immense power, whose eyes were brimming over with sheer joy and respect for a menial worker. They exchanged eloquent thank-you's and an extended handshake, and then stood side by side, helmets on hearts as they struck up an emotional rendition of the Chilean national anthem. It was an incredible sight, something to make you question what we see around us today in comfortable situations.

The essence of humanity is often revealed by stripping everything bare, leaving only desperate hope and survival comradeship to shine. Often, when everything else is stripped away like this, there is ensuing chaos, anarchy and human depravity. It is refreshing to see such an uplifting depiction of human resolve against the odds, teamwork and dreams helping to achieve the near impossible. No doubt a movie will be made, and this may reflect negatively on things that happened during those 69 days, but at least on the surface of things (no pun intended), this looks like a heart-warming, conscience-stirring triumph of human nature; and that's something to be thankful and thoughtful about.