'Elektra' (PG-13) (out of four popcorns)

You can't keep a good killer down, so the dagger-flashing, hot-bodied anti-heroine Elektra, first seen in 2002's "Daredevil," is back in her own adventure -- resurrected from death by a mystical guru.

While Daredevil was definitely a live-action comic strip, director Rob Bowman had higher aspirations for Elektra (Jennifer Garner), trying to weave a complicated back story into her fractured, tortured psyche. Elektra is now an assassin-for-hire, offering her elusive skills to the highest bidder.

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Preview: 'Elektra'

She can hide in the shadows and spring into action when you least expect it. However, she has become disillusioned with the life and is only working for the money and anonymity when she is sent on assignment to a remote island by an organization that prefers to remain unidentified. When she discovers who her target is, Elektra starts to question her values and her loyalties.

Garner has proved her kick-butt abilities in her TV series "Alias." Here, she amps up the violence and the sex appeal and combines it with a cool "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" vibe.

However, the visual style is murky and so is the storyline. Intriguing ideas are played out for a while and then dropped and never seen again.

The evil Order of the Hand is made up of an X-Men-type menagerie of characters including Tattoo (Chris Ackerman) -- a man whose tattoos come alive and attack the Order of the Hand's enemies; Typhoid (Natassia Malthe) -- an exotic woman who draws the life out of everything she touches; Stone (Bob Sapp) -- a hulk of a man with a body that can bend steel; and Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) -- a martial arts leader who was trained by Stick (Terence Stamp) -- the same man who made Elektra into the fighting machine she is.

The main problem with "Elektra" is that it doesn't share the joke with the audience. It takes itself way too seriously and the audience laughs at it, instead of with it. Fleshing out the characters' motives and background often bog down the action, which is what most people want when they see a movie about an avenging angel.

"Elektra" may not turn on the juice for the whole movie, but it still has enough sparks to make for an electric yarn.