There's
good news and bad news about Witchblade, a new TNT sci-fi series that's
based on the Top Cow comic book. The good: The show is highly stylized
and has spills and thrills right out of a really good theatrical action
movie. The bad: The show is formulaic and has dialogue right out of a really
bad theatrical action movie.
Yancy
Butler stars as Sara Pezzini, a hip New York City detective who is in possession
of the Witchblade, an ancient, organic weapon that locks around her wrist.
The shape-shifting gauntlet comes to life whenever Pezzini needs it, transforming
her into a mystical wonder woman who metes out justice and punishes evildoers.
In
the opener, she's drawn into a power struggle between two former members
of the Black Dragons, a defunct regiment of turbo-charged warriors. Pezzini
investigates the Dragons with her partner, former surfer Jake McCartey
(David Chokachi), a cool and laid-back detective with perpetually tossled
hair. Chokachi is likable in the role, but doesn't have much to do in the
series opener. He's Danno to Butler's McGarrett, doing legwork off-camera
and occasionally hollering "Police! Drop!"
Pezzini's
other partner is the late Danny Woo (Will Yun Lee). He frequently materializes
out of thin air, and it's unclear if he's Pezzini's hallucination or her
guardian angel. She is confused by Woo's mysterious appearances and the
way fantasy and reality blur when she wears the Witchblade. Woo tries to
enlighten her: "You just need to work on your confusion tolerance." Later
he tells her, "So foul a sky clears not without a storm." With that kind
of advice, she's going to be confused for a very long time.
The
villain is the pompous and enigmatic billionaire Kenneth Irons (Anthony
Cistaro), who ultimately wants the Witchblade for himself. With his obligatory
Eurotrash accent, Cistaro spews the majority of the show's syntax-challenged
psychobabble. He says, "If the fool would persist in his folly, he would
become wise" and "A dead body revenges not injuries." Please.
Fortunately,
the show compensates for the hackneyed dialogue by providing kinetic, Matrix-esque
action with nifty special effects, gritty New York City locations and rapid-fire
editing. There's a tilt-a-whirl motorcycle chase, bullet-spraying showdowns,
a flame-throwing skirmish — and it's all set to a throbbing alt-rock soundtrack.
Witchblade
is nothing more than a live-action comic book, and if you watch the crime
drama for the stunts and the atmosphere, it's effective. But if you want
a logical story and can't forgive pretentious and puzzling dialogue, you're
going to need a pretty high "confusion tolerance."
