In the wake of 41 different Synder Cuts, it's easy to overlook many other Director/Director's Cuts.
In a previous edition of this Segment, I looked at the previous Film (Daredevil) and how his Director's Cut restored, well, the Plot.
So, when I ran across a Director's Cut at a Goodwill for Elektra, I was curious.
FYI, I do have the normal version as well, which is still factory sealed. Someone really didn't want that present in 2006, apparently.
Can a Director's Cut make a Film like Elektra into something great?
Should You Bother?
The Film features lots of little Cuts throughout.
Sadly, that equates to only THREE more minutes of Runtime.
On the positive side, I never actually reviewed this, so let's do both!
Elektra is back from the dead- thanks to Terrance Stamp's Stick- and is killing bad guys for the Yakuza.
This Cut lets us see the blade pierce her target's chest.
She initially refuses another job, but soon takes it to escape her nightmares.
All of the backstory she was lacking in Daredevil is here.
She's told to hang around before getting the assignment, which means meeting two people.
You know that they are clearly the targets, right? Great.
The backstory is told through tinted flashbacks to her past.
These are extended in small ways throughout the Director's Cut.
She decides not to kill the duo and fends off some Ninjas.
They disappear in clouds of green smoke in both Cuts, so that wasn't a PG-13 thing.
This leads Carey Hiroyuki-Tagawa (barely in this) to hire a bunch of powered Hand Assassins.
Curiously, the Director's Cut removes a line where they are all named...but does include Elektra's friend taunting the lead Hand guy before being killed.
Priorities!
She's saved via Ex Machina courtesy of Stick (oddly similar to Madame Web) and told the truth...
The girl is a MacGuffin known as The Treasure.
She can be trained for good...or evil.
They flee to Elektra's home- making those Flashbacks cost effective by reusing the sets- and we see here set a trap.
In the Director's Cut, we get an extra shot of her with a candle before she ignites the stoves.
She manages to kill the remaining bad guys in a Hedge Maze, thanks to her sometimes ability to see the near future.
After a big fight with the Leader, she throws her remaining Sai about 200 feet through the Maze to strike Typhoid (not Mary) in the face.
The impact was restored for this Cut. That was a PG-13 thing.
We get a nice good-bye as Elektra can't stay with the Father and Daughter...because reasons.
She walks off to...well, you know where she ended up by now. The End.
****
I'll be honest- it's still mostly the same. If that doesn't sway you, you're most people.
In spite of how I may sometimes come off, I want Films to be good and I can be generous in grading them. For me, this is that kind of Film.
It's not great. It's not shit. It's alright.
This Cut didn't add lots of Plot or tons of characterization. It added a tiny bit of both, but it is mostly just a case of using Take B instead of Take A.
According to Rob Bowman, he recut the Music quite a bit too.
I didn't notice that much.
Sorry, Rob.
On the plus side, I can now add another Film to the list of Christmas Films!
Verdict: A tentative, yes. It's not much in the way of changes, but it still looks and feels nice.
Again- if you didn't love the Theatrical Version, there's not enough here to sway you though.
Fun Fact: Bob Sapp- who played Stone- was on The Tonight Show with Daredevil in 2003.
Now which one do I keep?
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