Painkiller Jane

Nothing really imaginative, creative, or original about this movie, but well made and a very earnest effort to make you think as well as entertain you. Definitely avoided going for cheap scares or titillation. The earnestness of this effort is shown as much by what was not there as much as what was--there were no romantic/sexual scenes at all. Had this movie been the hackwork that 'ambrazos' would have you believe, we would have seen Jane tumble into bed with either Nick the thief or 'Dr. Knight' (maybe both). We didn't and that impressed me some.

While the cast generally did well enough (and it certainly was good to see Roundtree again), I was really impressed by Vaugier. A very impressive presence, without being sexual or showing much skin. As an action heroine, I think she stands comparison with Jennifer Garner, maybe even Angelina Jolie All in all, a movie worth recording and watching (mostly because of Vaugier).

It could have been worse. The plot was realistic and reasonable but need more factual details to be more convincing. There are a lot of interesting characters but the lacking of their background stories make them feeled more like props. The direction was foggy. It seemed like the director let the audience fill in the blanks. There seemed to be a lot more of the story to tell but it was left out, trying to fit the whole stories into the movie. This should have been a ten-hour mini-series or a series.

There were no romance or sexual tension (from what I got) and that was the good part of the film. I also like the superhero(ine) that has enough weakness to make her feel like a human. I probably like Jane more than Superman, Batman or even Laura Croft.

The soundtrack was lovely, it could be the best part of the film. The worst part would be the Vaugier's hair. What were they thinking.

For SyFy original movies Painkiller Jane is quite good. Most SyFy movies are garbage, but there are some tolerable ones out there and Painkiller Jane is one of them, in fact I'd go to say that it is also one of their better ones overall. And it is much better than the series that followed, which I never got into in all honesty. Sure the film is flawed, I didn't care for the twist ending, which was predictable and rather obvious, or for the rather clichéd villain and his motivations. The story is a good idea generally and has some good moments like some tense action, but the middle section does see it not as focused narratively and somewhat draggy in pace sometimes. Conversely, I actually found the filming to be quite good, I personally find the criticisms of jerky camera shots to apply to the series more than here, here it is much less hackneyed than most SyFy movies. The settings are less drab here too. Thankfully there is less of an emphasis thrown-in special effects, what effects there are are not that great but there have also been worse. The music is lovely, while most of the characters don't feel like underdeveloped props like they did in the series. The script is a mixed bag, again an improvement on most SyFy movies, there is evidence of wit and tension, but there are also bits that could have flowed better and felt rather forced. The acting is better than average and much more natural. Emmanuelle Vaugier is a beautiful woman and suitably charismatic and gritty, much more of a leading lady than the series' lead Kristiana Loken. In conclusion, a watchable movie that even with its flaws is better than most SyFy original movies and the series. 6/10 Bethany Cox

While this is clearly not in the same league as the usual SciFi Saturday night godawful piece o'junk, with much better production values (not Bulgaria? sonofagun!) and decent acting, the story itself was a complete snore. Not an original concept in the whole thing and it just dragged on for two hours without anything really happening. Yeah, she's cute, yeah, she looks nice in leather, but Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Ooops, sorry, dozed off.

I spent two hours waiting for something, anything, to happen. Oooh, goodie, a shootout. Now there's an original concept, and certainly one worth waiting for. And, ooooh, the suspense is killing me. Is she really dead? If this was a pilot, I'm not too curious about the show. If it wasn't a pilot, there's no excuse for the utter lack of story.

Reasonable plot, sufficient suspense and misdirection. The premise is believable in a science fiction way. There are no fake monsters. There are no incredibly stupid moves by the heroine ineptly designed to create artificial tension, an amateurish plot technique that seems to be rampant even in network (e.g., "24") programs. Good role for great old Richard (Shaft) Roundtree. No really awful acting. Attractive heroine. There were no parts that were so slow or boring that I skipped ahead, and I would watch this again in a year or so. It is head and shoulders above most Sci Fi Channel fare. Clearly, I was pretty impressed.

No, it's not Emmy caliber, but it is so much better than expected, I really can't understand what "ambrazos" is whining about in his review.