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Witchblade

Starring Yancy Butler, Anthony Cistaro, Conrad Dunn and David Chokachi

Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Written J.D. Zeik

TNT

Premieres Aug. 27, 8 p.m. ET

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Review by Patrick Lee

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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.

A flashy debut

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's 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 adrenalin. 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.