There’s one thing the often neglected Elektra has that most superhero movies don’t: it’s a Christmas movie. Even if the studio messed that up by releasing it in January. No wonder it failed!
Elektra is hired as a hitwoman with an unusual contract; she has to go to a lakehouse and wait there to be told her target. Despite her misgivings she takes it, only to discover a child, Abby, trying to steal a necklace from her. (The necklace belonged to Elektra’s mother; Abby herself appears to have no mother.) Following this Abby invites her to dinner with her and her father Mark, the pretext being it is Christmas and no one should be alone.
So for Christmas there’s a man, a woman and a child with a great destiny, whose very existence threatens a great lord, who in turn tries to have the child killed. It’s not a perfect fit, but there are definite echoes of the Christmas story.
They have an awkward Christmas dinner and no one is killed, which is a good Christmas by anyone’s standards. Then on Boxing Day Elektra is given the target; Abby and Mark. A Christmas miracle occurs. Elektra decides not to kill them even when she’d be getting paid for it.Then she goes further, fighting off the ninjas who attack them.
She dresses in red and delivers the Treasure to Stick, her martial arts teacher. Later Typhoid kisses her in the woods, and I’m pretty sure they’re under the mistletoe. Of course the final confrontation doesn’t take place at Christmas, but a couple of weeks later.
Perhaps on 7 January, in time for Elektra Natchios to celebrate Greek Orthodox Christmas?
Neil Willcox has worked as a fruit picker, a data analyst and a teaching assistant, none of which qualify him to review Superhero films, but here we are. He reviews whatever he feels like at nightofthehats.blogspot.com and can be found on twitter @neil_will.