Lack of care damaged this film

Rating: 2/10 (6 March 2008)

Director Mark Steven Johnson (of "Daredevil" and "Electra" movies) and his screen-writers made this homage to a cult-70's Marvel book a real mess. If I could I'd ask the people involved : "If you don't like a subject or a specific comic book (like our case) why go and make a movie about it?" Yeah, it's the money, stupid. Except that,in the end, your lack of interest is going to be very obvious. With comic adaptations stealing the spotlight they could surely do better ...
This movie fails miserably even in the visual level were similar films usually excel, which is kind of surprising since even old Mark Steven Johnson hacks like "Daredevil" packed some eye-candy. It seems like instead of progressing with his career and evolving his techniques MSJ goes one step backwards at a time."Daredevil" had some good moments (namely the first 15 minutes) "Electra" was worse and this hits rock bottom...
You could easily blame the original comic but that's not the case. Movies like the "Blade" trilogy (the first two parts actually) or even Sin City are based on similar books but are actually a lot better. I think that's mostly because directors like Guillermo del Torro (Blade II, Hellboy ) observing the weak and schematic scenarios, cover it all up with nice visuals and set a steady pace in their films, while MSJ works mechanically using as little imagination as possible.
Nickolas Cage, who seems to be picking his roles without any thought or care, also fails miserably here. He tries to fit in the role of the undead Avenger but lacks the charm and the guts of a powerful performance. He sports a melancholic expression that is out of place and can even provoke laughter and not compassion.Peter Fonda's participation as Mephistophelis could bring a lot of charm but in the end ridicules a man best remembered from the epic "Easy Rider".Eva Mendez is simply as wooden as it gets.
Small budget, bad effects and mediocre acting, make this movie hard to watch even for the die-hard marvel fan.