First, the film's star and namesake is a woman, Jennifer Garner's Elektra. And she's a badass assassin, kicking lots of male butt and throwing knives and generally tearing things up. She's only saved by a man once in the film, which is a better ratio than most. What's even better, though, is the child prodigy the film's major battles center around is also a girl, Abby Miller, played by Kirsten Prout. Though she's only 13, Abby has powers/abilities that make her very important to a lot of people, none of whom seem the least bit taken back by her being a girl. I liked that.

What I didn't like, though, was that Elektra's mentor in all things ass-kicking was an old white dude. To drive home the phallocracy, his weapon was a staff and his name was Stick (played by Terrence Stamp). Stick both engineered much of the major dilemma Elektra faces in the movie and saved her (as well as Abby and Abby's dad) in one pivotal scene. The gender-related note this struck in me is pretty obvious, but I was also bothered by the fact that the biggest martial arts guru in the movie, and the ultimate "good guy," was white, even though the majority of his underlings, as well as most of the evil faction he was fighting against, were Asian. It just rubbed me wrong. No matter what else I thought about the film, I could never quite get away from Stick as the big white patriarch. (Thanks to Mark, by the way, for influencing my thoughts on this.)

And then of course there is the always-present hyper sexuality of the female action hero. Elektra's fighting outfit includes a red bustier, high-heeled boots, and long flowing hair. Not exactly clothes that maximize her fighting potential. Like Ginger Rogers, Elektra has to do everything a male action star does, but in heels. And that never ceases to annoy me. This film does offer something refreshing in Abby, though, who does her thing in a jean jacket.

All in all, it's a terrible movie that's not worth watching. However, I do see a little bit of new ground being broken, particularly in the character of Abby, so I'll give it two stars for that.