Elektra (2005)

 

Directed by Brett Ratner. Starring Jennifer Garner, Terrence Stamp, Goran Visnjic. Cert: 12. Running Time: 100 Mins Approx

Bad, bad, bad. There usually are some redeeming features to a film. I suppose you can argue that just watching Jennifer Garner do her thing is enough to carry a film but not in this case. It is full of cardboard cut out characters that are never fleshed out. The bolted on love story is an indication that they know how weak the main story is. The love story in Daredevil was held up as one of the bad things about that film, but no lessons have been learnt here. I actually liked Daredevil; this was tedious. Bad action, bad acting, bad story, bad film. Don’t touch it with a bargepole. Especially if you like Elektra as a character from the comics.

The Family Man (2000)

Directed by Brett Ratner. Starring Nicholas Cage, Tea Leoni. Cert: 15. Running Time: 120 Mins Approx.

This charming film has the flavour of many other films: It’s A Wonderful Life; Groundhog Day; and Sliding Doors and I suppose the word one would use to describe it is Capraesque.

Cage is great — at once able to pull off the cold, ruthless business man with only commerce in his life, and the family man with a big heart. The whole thing runs so smoothly and progresses so naturally that you forget you’ve been sold this idea before. It seems new, the characters seem real. Jack Campbell’s is a journey you are glad to have taken. And it pulls off the feat that the best of Capa did, to not seem overly sugar-sweet while being heart warming. A wonderful film.