Actress Jennifer Garner, who, as Ben Affleck’s superhero love interest in Daredevil (2003), came to a sticky end, finds herself alive and kickboxing again in Elektra (12A, previewed at Dundee Odeon).

But this is no typical superhero movie, and Elektra is no run-of-the-mill, caped crimefighter — she’s a kind of lone, ice-cold, top-gun, ninja assassin, who makes so much money she’s got her own agent. And her skills are almost purely martial arts-based, although she does have the ability to move around like Billy Whizz and can glimpse future and distant events.

However, she’s forced to reassess her approach to the job when she’s billeted on the shores of a remote lake for a few weeks, in advance of a double hit. Somewhat against her better judgment, she allows herself to be befriended by father and daughter Mark and Abby Miller (Goran Visnjic and Kirsten Prout), who live nearby — only to find out they are her targets.

After a wrestle with her conscience, a caring side surfaces from nowhere and proves victorious. She goes on the run with them, fending off further super-powered assassins, while trying to figure out just why there’s such a desperation to rub out a seemingly ordinary man and girl.

In the parlance of US comic books, Elektra is an origin story, but our ninja heroine’s past isn’t given as big licks as, say, Spider-Man got in his first movie. Instead, the plot is sprinkled with brief flashbacks — wealthy upbringing, mother’s mystery death, martial arts training at the feet of blind kung fu guru Stick (Terence Stamp) — which serve to inform current events (her resurrection is touched on) and explain Elektra’s frosty adult personality.

As superhero films go, Elektra, while being reasonably enjoyable, is distinctly in the B-movie bracket, not least because it lacks a big star — although off the back of her success in recent TV spy series Alias and projects such as this film, Garner is being singled out for better things, her name is not quite yet up there in lights.

That said, she’s an appealing, tough-cute actress with an obvious athleticism which allows her Elektra performance to look dynamic yet effortless.

The film also has other interesting facets. For instance, some refreshing supervillains who do just what it says on their labels — Typhoid is contagion on legs, spreading a variety of deadly diseases with one touch; Tattoo has an assortment of animal tattoos that come to life; and Stone? You shouldn’t need telling — punching him is like punching a big, fat stone.

And in a rather unexplored yet intriguing aspect of Elektra’s personality, she is revealed to be the Howard Hughes of the superhero community — counting out her footsteps down a path, overzealously scrubbing the living-room floor, arranging her toothbrush, toothpaste, etc, fastidiously in the bathroom, and arraying bananas on a kitchen worktop like they were soldiers on parade.

If ever a superhero really needed a mask, she’s it — if only to keep those darned germs at bay. Yet she isn’t given one. Now isn’t that puzzling, or is it that her face is just too pretty to hide?

VERDICT: A medium-sized, but not super-sized, superhero story, which should just about satisfy superhero movie appetites until Fantastic Four is released later this year.

Three stars

While I’m sure it wouldn’t be put this way, I suspect Touchstone’s response would be — so what?, shouldn’t the bravery of firefighters who “run into burning buildings as other people are running out” be recognised?

The makers of Ladder 49 (12A, seen at Dundee UGC) certainly think so. But this is far from being a schmaltzy affair — among the laughs and companionship between the firefighters there is more than a fair share of tragedy.

We are plunged straight into the action as the crew of Ladder 49 attend a warehouse fire, where people are trapped on the 12th floor.Joaquin Phoenix is Jack Morrison, a fireman assigned to search and rescue.

He finds a survivor and he lowers the guy out of a window until his colleagues can catch him. But through saving the man’s life, Morrison becomes trapped as the floor caves in on him and he plummets into a large hole.

Stunned, half-buried in debris, he drifts in and out of consciousness and his career as a fireman — from a rookie to one of the crew’s top men — is told in flashback as the other members of Ladder 49 desperately try to find him. John Travolta, as the chief of Ladder 49, mounts the rescue operation.

The film probably sounds formulaic and to an extent it is. Morrison’s career is really about how a hero is made — his introduction to the team, his first fire, how his life saving has been recognised with a medal, how he overcame the death of colleagues and prevailed. And of course, how he met and married a beautiful woman.

But at least the filmmakers, director Jay Russell and writer Lewis Colick, try to flesh out the characters in the film, giving Morrison flaws (though not too many) as well as heroics.

The action scenes are generally good, particularly the opening scene with the handheld camera really giving the impression of the disorientation going into a fire.

But the film’s main problem is Joaquin Phoenix, who for starters seems much too old for the part when he is playing the rookie. I honestly believe he is one of the worst actors working today, lacking little if any screen presence and seemingly incapable of acting with anything other than a sneer on his face.

Travolta on the other hand oozes screen presence — and it’s an understated performance in a film like this that shows him to be a star. He is in the supporting role and he knows it, never hamming up his part. But he is the character that you wish there was more of in the film.

Ladder 49 isn’t a great film, but as a diversion it’s better than most. There’s action and laughs that aren’t aimed at 13-year-old boys. But more importantly this is a film about relationships that are more than a little moving.

VERDICT: Doesn’t burn up the screen, but Ladder 49 is no false alarm either.

Three stars

To compress it into two-and-half hours on the big screen (PG, seen at Dunfermline Odeon) is an almost impossible task, and the movie does have more than its share of loose ends, impromptu leaps in time, and characters who suddenly seem to go absent-without-leave.

However, director Mira Nair, who probed India’s caste system in Monsoon Wedding, attacks her new social-strata project with gusto and the result is never less than entertaining and always sumptuous to look at.

Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon) and Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai) are old finishing-school pals from slightly different sides of the tracks. Merchant’s daughter Amelia is a pretty, goody-two-shoes with all the gumption and the street smarts of a throw cushion. Becky is an impoverished orphan of an artist and an opera singer, but she is clever, charming and a social schemer par excellence.

Vanity Fair charts the highs and lows of their intertwining lives as they try to scale the ramparts of a high society. Progressing through a series of stately country houses and elegant London drawing-rooms, they find true love, but are also ensnared by dangerous liaisons which have consequences for their long-term happiness.

First and foremost, this flick is a feast for the eyes. The fashion and decor of the Regency Era were heavily influenced by the art and culture of the East, a fact which proves to be a gift to Bombay-born Mira Nair, who spices up the visuals with all things Indian.

In fact, there’s so much exotic brocade on display that it is often hard to know where the drawing-room curtains end and the dandies begin.

Almost as colourful as the outfits is Vanity Fair’s cavalcade of characters, ably rendered by members of the Unofficial British Costume-Movie Stock Company — Jim Broadbent, Geraldine McEwan, Bob Hoskins, Gabriel Byrne, Eileen Atkins, etc.

And what about the de rigeur Yank in the starring role? Try as I might, I find little cause for complaint.

Witherspoon’s back catalogue proves she can act and she negotiates the one major, potential banana skin — an English accent — with ease. If I had one problem, it was with her interpretation of the part — she doesn’t come over quite as hard as Thackeray painted her.

Becky is meant to be Sharp by name, sharp by nature. For the first two-thirds of the film, at least, Reese seems to be playing characters called Becky Nice, Becky Sweet and Becky Beautiful. But did this spoil the film? Put it this way. At no point was I Phil Unhappy.

VERDICT: A highly enjoyable but not-quite-classic version of a classic.

Three stars

Will Smith saving the world in a sci-fi film isn’t exactly a new idea — but the fact is that today no one does it better.

I, Robot is actually much more intelligent fare for Smith, based on the writings of Issac Asimov, set in a world where robots are part of everyday life.

They are slaves to man, doing the chores they don’t want to do and following the three laws of robotics: a robot must protect humans, obay orders and protect its own existence as long as this doesn’t conflict with the first two laws. Of course this goes wrong.

In an age when it seems that everything that can be done has been done, it takes a lot to impress. But the special effects in this film are jaw-dropping, with the hundreds of robots integrating seamlessly with the live action. One scene in which tens of robots attack Smith’s speeding car stands as one of the best sequences last year.

Also beneath the film’s big-budget surface the film asks questions about identity and self as well as giving an insight into what the future might hold if the current rate of technical innovation continues.

EXTRAS: Two commentaries and a mountain of featurettes.

VERDICT: Blatant product-placement aside, this is a rarity: an intelligent Hollywood film.

Four stars

double-disc Disney DVD. The hit Pixar animated film, their best since Toy Story, boasts their most impressive set of extra features yet.

There are two commentary tracks, deleted scenes, bloopers, a comprehensive making-of and animated character interviews.

Best of all though is a new short film, Jack-Jack, which shows what The Incredibles’ youngest son gets up to with his babysitter while his family are saving the day. Also included is the short film Boundin’, which was shown with The Incredibles in theatres.

Rather worryingly though there will be two versions of The Incredibles on the set’s first DVD, a widescreen version and a full-screen version that has been reframed. While this is a nice option, I worry that the quality will suffer by the inclusion of both.

Certainly the best animated film for several years, The Incredibles is a must-own, priced £22.99.

Also released in March is The Incredibles’ director Brad Bird’s first film The Iron Giant in a spruced-up special edition.

Based on Ted Hughes’ much-loved children’s classic, The Iron Man, this is an intelligent and touching animated film.

Featuring the voices of Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel and Harry Connick Jr this shows that traditional 2-D animation can still be powerful.

The new special edition features a startling 13 featurettes about the making of the film (though I suspect most will only last for a few minutes), Brad Bird and Vin Diesel discussing the voicing of the film, additional scenes and a director’s commentary.