Unforgettable male superheroes like Superman, Batman and, most recently Spiderman have been jumping from the comic book pages to the movie screen with ease. However, when it's the female heroine's turn, there seems to be more trouble, as seen with the disappointing "Catwoman."

The latest addition to the heroine movie business finds Jennifer Garner reprising her "Daredevil" character, Elektra Natchios. Garner can't make "Elektra" electrifying in any way.

The story follows that of "Daredevil," where funny enough, Elektra dies. She is brought back to life by a blind martial arts master named Stick (played by Terence Stamp) and becomes a contract killer.

Elektra's newest contract is worth $2 million and is too hard to pass up. She is to kill Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic of "ER") and his daughter Abby Miller (Kirsten Prout). The problem comes when she meets Abby and becomes attached to the fact that their back stories are similar — mother is killed, hard on self, etc.

A secret group with weird powers, called The Hand, is after a treasure that the Millers supposedly have and Elektra switches sides to become their protector.

The Hand is deadly, all-knowing and will not stop until it either dies or wins.

While all this fighting is going on, Elektra is haunted by the memories of her mother's murder, a memory where her father made her tread water until she almost drowned, and a bad case of obsessive compulsive disorder.

The movie was OK, not amazing nor completely horrible. There seemed to be a lack of something cohesive within the plot and the script. Much of the dialogue seems forced or too simplistic. There would be flashbacks to Elektra's past, but there is no mention of "Daredevil" and the fact that she was dead previously is only highlighted with a simple "I was dead once" near the beginning.

Elektra's bouts with OCD, which supposedly stem from her youth, have no real point to the story, but is somehow interesting. To spend 10 minutes of your time organizing fruit by category or counting your steps in fives is odd, but adds a little humanity to the character.

Garner plays Elektra to the best of her abilities and shows why she is known as a strong woman. She knows how to fight and from the looks of the fights, it is understandable how she injured nerves in her back while filming.

The fight between Elektra and Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) is supposed to be the climax of the movie, but the way some parts are filmed is instead distracting and hard to focus on.

There are a total of three kisses in the movie — two between Elektra and Mark and then one between Elektra and Typhoid (Natassia Malthe). Which kiss was the longest? Not hard to guess. It's understandable that two beautiful women are kissing, but the length of time was annoying. It's a kiss of death, yes, but when Typhoid can basically blow poisoned air at someone, the lip-lock seems extreme.

A highlight of the movie came at the beginning with a cameo by Jason Isaacs ("Harry Potter" series and Captain Hook in "Peter Pan") as another one of Elektra's victims. He gives an entire background story of the myth of Elektra to a bodyguard whom he's hired to protect him even though he knows it is futile.

Grade: C

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 20 2005.