Leather-clad,
motorcycle riding New York police detective Sara Pezzini (Butler) is ticked
off at the world, but mostly at Gallo (Dunn), the mobster she suspects
of killing her best friend, Maria. Against the better judgment of her partner,
wisecracking Danny Woo (Will Yun Lee), Sara confronts Gallo on the street.
Gallo's
compatriot, professional hit man Lorenzo Vespucci, suddenly draws on Danny;
Sara kicks the gun out of his hand and chases him into a nearby museum.
As she pursues him, she finds herself drawn to a mysterious gauntlet in
a glass case. In the course of a wild shootout, the gauntlet attaches itself
to Sara and deflects a bullet into a gas line--causing the entire museum
to explode.
Miraculously,
Sara escapes unharmed and without memory of the incident. She also discovers
she has a new bracelet with a huge red jewel on it. And she is followed
by a strange, dark man, Ian Nottingham (Eric Etebari), who works for an
enigmatic billionaire named Kenneth Irons (Cistaro).
Disturbing
dreams trouble Sara's sleep. The next day, she and Danny follow a lead
to a local theater, where Gallo is setting up a nightclub. Gallo's men
catch Danny; Sara must give herself up to try to save him. But Gallo kills
Danny nevertheless, and Sara is next. Until something odd happens: Sara's
bracelet transforms itself into a powerful, bullet-deflecting gauntlet,
endows her with superhuman strength, then morphs into an avenging sword
with which Sara decimates Gallo's men. Gallo, however, escapes.
Later,
Kenneth Irons tells her that she has been chosen to wear the gauntlet,
known as the Witchblade, which has adorned the wrists of female warriors
from time immemorial. It confers great powers and knowledge but is difficult
to control.
Sara
also learns disturbing truths about her past and about her father, who
was killed in the line of duty. Partnered with former surfer and fellow
detective Jake McCartey (Chokachi), Sara must learn to control the Witchblade
and bring Gallo to justice before both destroy her.
Witchblade,
a TNT original movie based on the Top Cow comic series of the same name,
manages to transform a lurid, over-the-top, cheesecake-and-sorcery comic
into a stylish, flashy drama centering on a tortured hero. With music-video-style
direction, some Matrix-y effects and an original premise, Witchblade makes
a pleasant addition to genre television.
The
key to the film's success is star Yancy Butler, a smoldering brunette who
fits Sara Pezzini like a glove. Butler alternately rages and suffers, and
is able to combine vulnerability with steely strength. She wears the admittedly
silly looking Witchblade with absolute conviction.
The
story is relatively faithful to the mythology of the comic, eliminating
the more fantastic elements and playing up the realism. It fails to illuminate
the comic's murky mythos, but Irons' and Nottingham's Yoda-like dialogue
is nevertheless intriguing. This adaptation is more successful in painting
a portrait of the conflicted Sara Pezzini. There's also plenty of smart
banter.
Veteran
TV director Ralph Hemecker makes use of an entire film school's worth of
camera angles, moody lighting, quick editing, trick photography, slow-motion
and deep focus to approximate the look and feel of a comic book. There's
even a couple of bullet-time sequences and a subway-platform showdown right
out of The Matrix. He also layers in a rock soundtrack to amp up the adrenaline.
It all works to good effect.
Since
Witchblade is really a two-hour pilot for a potential TV series, it sets
up more than it pays off, which is a little frustrating to the casual viewer.
Nottingham, for example, is shown in flashbacks as a young boy being trained
for some unknown mission that has to do with Sara, but the audience learns
little about his role.
Witchblade
delivers on its supernatural premise by taking its characters' journey
seriously and without condescension. In that, it is of a piece with this
summer's hit X-Men, which also succeeded in transforming its comic characters
into flesh and blood.
I liked
Witchblade, and Yancy Butler looks great in leather. -- P.L.
