Blissfully Ben Affleck-free, the ?Daredevil? spin-off ?Elektra? benefits greatly from the presence of Jennifer Garner, who steps from the shadows of Hell?s Kitchen rooftops into the spotlight of her own butt-kicking chick flick.

In fact, you?d never know that ?Daredevil? ever came out in 2003 from watching this movie, and that?s a good thing. No one needs to revisit the male half of Bennifer saving Manhattan in head-to-toe red leather (even Affleck himself would probably rather forget that he did it).

So now the focus is on Garner, who already has proven herself the ideal action figure from her star-making role on TV?s ?Alias?. Playing Elektra, the Marvel Comics warrior princess, is a perfect fit for the perfectly fit actress. When she saunters across a room in a red lace-up bustier and low-slung red leather pants, her long, brown hair swirling wildly in the artificial wind, it makes absolute sense ? we see her do this every week. Elektra could be just another of the many disguises Sydney Bristow dons before destroying someone who has underestimated her.

She makes ?Elektra? so surprisingly effective, it could open doors for other female action heroines. Halle Berry looked fantastic last year in ?Catwoman?, but it was hard to take her seriously in a stinker of a movie. Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi were gorgeous and deadly in ?Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?,? but that was an ensemble film also featuring male warriors. And the women of the ?Charlie?s Angels? movies can?t compare because their tongues were firmly planted in their cheeks while they were kicking bad guys in the face.

But Garner?s charms extend beyond the mere physical. Simply by showing up, she makes ?Elektra? far more entertaining than it has a right to be. Yes, she?s smart and sexy and strong, but as she showed last year in the comedy ?13 Going on 30?, she also has a girl-next-door likeability that makes her seem accessible. So when Elektra says to her mentor, a blind martial arts expert named Stick (Terence Stamp), ?You talk in riddles, old man,? she makes the line tolerable, and not laugh-out-loud corny.

Let?s back up a second, though: If you did see ?Daredevil?, you?ll recall that Elektra, the girlfriend of blind lawyer/crimefighter Matt Murdock, died at the end. (If you didn?t see it, we just ruined the ending for you. Sorry!) The magical, mystical Stick resurrected the orphaned Elektra, and she now lives a solitary existence as a highly trained, highly paid assassin. (?It?s what I?m good at,? she responds flatly when asked why this is her chosen profession.)

In the script from Zak Penn (?X2?), Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner, directed by longtime ?X-Files? director Mark Bowman, Elektra?s latest assignment is to take out Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his 13-year-old daughter, Abby (Kirsten Prout). The reclusive Elektra had just met them, sharing a shy Christmas dinner while renting a house on a quiet island.

What she didn?t know was that they were hiding from The Hand, a secret group with dark powers. They?re after Abby, who (like Elektra) is a martial-arts prodigy and who (like Elektra) lost her mother at a young age. Elektra finds herself fighting to protect the father and daughter instead of killing them, and Abby becomes sort of her Mini-Me. (Though Prout, a young actress with endless confidence and charisma in her first major movie, resembles a young Renee Zellweger.)

In telling their story, Bowman seems to be borrowing from everything, from the slo-mo gothic aesthetic of a Guns N? Roses video to the dazzling outdoor fight sequences of ?House of Flying Daggers?. Elektra?s signature sword travels magically through row after row of a topiary labyrinth until it squarely pierces its intended target, and ninjas drop from the trees like spiders dangling from freshly spun webs.

There?s also a heavy amount of philosophical mumbo-jumbo about The Way, most of which comes from Stick. ?You understand violence and pain but you do not know The Way,? he advises Elektra.

Again, that line would have sounded ridiculous coming out of most actors? mouths, but Stamp (the star of Steven Soderbergh?s ?The Limey?, among other films) has such a formidable presence, he makes it work.

Everything comes back to Garner, though ? and even when the movie takes itself too seriously, thankfully she never does.