egend tells of a unique warrior … a lost soul.” It’s a classic tale of good versus evil, explained by a narrator in the most generic of ways. It’s as if this Marvel character’s origins are designed to be a bland amalgamation of every other superhero inception – a colorless blend of myth and might and justice against wrongdoers. And it’s conducted by a ghostly girl in red, introduced as an untouchable, invincible assassin who can infiltrate the most heavily fortified of strongholds in order to execute mobsters deserving of a bloody comeuppance. This is all extremely uninspiring, even for a character whom audiences should already be familiar with.

“She’s an urban legend, sir.” Elektra (Jennifer Garner, not at all bad in the role) is a reclusive clean freak, constantly scrubbing her dimly lit abode to prevent her DNA from ever being discoverable. In between her disinfecting routines, she uses a shadowy handler (Colin Cunningham) to set up valuable targets in need of assassinating. Ever since she narrowly survived being killed by Bullseye, she’s gone into hiding by training with the most elite martial arts masters across the world, including sightless Sensei Stick (Terence Stamp). She’s gotten so good, in fact, that she boasts superhuman abilities – all without the need for a splash of toxic chemicals across the eyes or a radioactive spider bite.

“You understand violence and pain.” She’s also continually plagued by nightmares and hallucinations from the past, tormented by a tragic childhood. Of course, since this is a spinoff sequel of “Daredevil,” there’s not much need for further developing Elektra’s backstory. Still, this film wisely breaks away to new locations, far removed from the prior New York environment, so that the titular role isn’t bogged down by what came before. That doesn’t change her ultimate plight, however, since she’s the same type of do-gooder as the blind lawyer, regularly fighting obvious villains while outnumbered and overpowered. Here, she’s given a transitory love interest in the form of eligible widower Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic), who happens to have a precocious 13-year-old daughter, Abby (Kirsten Prout), marginally in need of a mother figure. And, as anticipated, the curious duo get wrapped up in Elektra’s latest mission, complicating her usual solitude and partnerless habits.

Quite problematically, the enemies in this episode depend on supernatural forces, which are terribly incongruent with the moderate realism in which Elektra operates. It’s one thing to use a hint of black magic; it’s another to have characters turn into glowing dust upon dying – an absolutely needless injection of otherworldliness. The ruthless antagonist organization called The Hand, led by Master Roshi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), could have been formidable on its own, and it would have been acceptable to have impatient, mind-reading disciple Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) and his squad of slightly preternatural brutes – bulletproof Stone (Bob Sapp), all-seeing scout Tattoo (Chris Ackerman), plague-casting Typhoid (Natassia Malthe), and strangely nondescript Kinkou (Edson T. Ribeiro) – represent the limits of fantasy elements. Instead, the magical components tend to escalate; in order to overcome the dark arts, everyone must have superhuman powers.

Although there’s something mildly amusing about having a significant chunk of Elektra’s life be a manipulated test of her worth, the story here is just too straightforward to be of much interest. A mystery arises (and is then solved) through her frequent flashbacks, but it does little to heighten the potency of her eventual showdown – or series of showdowns against Kirigi and his goons. No doubt exists as to whether or not she’ll win out in the end; nothing is really at stake. And though the characters in “Daredevil” were largely one-dimensional and watery, the ones here are somehow even duller.

– Mike Massie