We only tested the movie one time and the test was extraordinary. We had teenage girls and boys and their mothers, and every one of them absolutely loved the movie. They thought it was far better than Spider-Man and far better than typical comic-book movies and they really understood what movie I'd made.
Since when have they held test screenings in crack rehab centers and why does Bowman presume that the readers are also on crack so that this becomes plausible?
I didn't think the THEATRICAL CUT was an adrenaline rush of any kind. I was bored and told everyone about the surprising lack of action. I don't know that dragging it out for four more minutes will be an improvement unless that four minutes IS action. To be an improvement this has to be a DRASTIC re-edit.
I still think an outfit that made it look like Garner's chest stuck out instead of her stoumach would have been a step in the right direction. It had to have been a horrible outfit if her running around in skimpy attire wasn't enough to keep me entertained. I'm easy.
I thought I'd just buy all the Batman movies next week, but that article is making me want to go ahead and double-dip on Elektra, too. It'll be a big day for me - my first double-dip purchases, and there will be five of them.
Who the hell does Bowman think he is? Polanski? Bergman? He makes is sound like Fox turned The Godfather into White Chicks. Elektra is nothing more than entertainment. Always have, always will be. If Elektra: DC is anything like the Daredevil: DC it will still be a stinker.
I'm a Jennifer Garner fan, so I liked Daredevil and loved Elektra because it had more of Jennifer. In short, I'm getting the new version regardless of whether or not it's better.
i will have a review of this title in the near future. I can't wait actually...I can't wait to see how this feature has been re-tweaked for home theaters.
Here are some of my comments on the theatrical release of the review that can be found here on HTF:
I guess someone was listening and my ears are in tune...
I liked DareDevil and I really wanted to like this movie, but found it "meh". Luckily, because of the bad press, I rented first and never bought.
I will be using the same strategy next week. Sure - renting negates the first week savings if I don decide to buy, but unless there are some big improvements in the film, history will repeat itself.
I watched this last night and while the film may only be 6 minutes longer, I have to say those six minutes and the re editing Bowman and company did, has made this film GOOD.
I mean that. This is now a good movie. Whereas the Theatrical cut of Elektra, to me, felt jagged and somehow flat, this new version is a revelation. I honestly believe had they let this version into the Theaters, this would have made money for the Studios and would not have been crucified by the critics. (Ok, maybe minus the decapitation and the Sai to the face it could have made it to theaters.)
So what is different?? This version goes a lot more into the redemption of Elektra, focuses on her motivations and gives a lot more focus to her powers, which if I recall correctly, wasn't in the original film at all. It has been a while since I saw the original so I could be mistaken on a few points but I don't recall Elektra really having any motivation for her actions in the original. In this cut, we see why she does the things she does, we also see why the story moves in the direction it does. In the original cut, the "showdown" at the end seemed forced and kind of silly like they didn't really know how to end the film but in this version, the entire flow of the film is driven towards that final showdown and when we get there it just seems inevitable that this is how the film will end.
The film is not without its faults we still don't see why Kirigi kills Elektra's mother, this is just left to the imagination
maybe they will solve that in the sequel.
My advice would be to throw the original version of this film in the trash, forget about it and consider this the correct version of Elektra.
Both the picture and sound have been reworked and they look and sound exceptional. I thought the sound on the original was good but this new remix is less busy and more focused. It is very immersive and directional. On my Samsung DLP fed by a Toshiba up converting DVD via HDMI to 1080i, the picture was perfect. I didn't notice any instances of pixalization (although I don't know what edge enhancement looks like so I can't say there wasn't any...) the picture was clean, the colors were bright and very vibrant.
All in all, Rob Bowman redeemed this film in much the same way Elektra is redeemed in the film - probably moreso. This is truly what a Director's cut should be, an improvement on the original. I share Rob Bowman's frustration that this version of the film is not the one seen in Theaters. Had it been, I do not think here would be any doubt about a sequel nor would there be any blemishes on Jennifer Garner's career.
Enjoy!!! I can honestly say this is worth the double dip!