|
Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mum to her teenage sister, Jaime Sommers didn't think life could get much harder. But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death's door, her only hope for survival is a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price. Jaime's modifications include: bionic legs, a bionic right arm, a bionic right ear, a bionic eye - and nanomachines called anthrocytes which are capable of healing her body at a highly accelerated rate... Michelle Ryan plays Jaime Sommers, aka the Bionic Woman, in this reboot of the original camp '70s TV show. While it's not a great show by any stretch of the imagination, it's hardly a disaster. The problem is that the show's writing is all over the place. Probably not helped by a writers strike, the series can't decide if it's trying to be a fluffy show which follows Jaime Sommers as she wrestles with her family life and work as an undercover operative, or a darker, edgier show that focuses on coming to terms with her her condition and the darkness that is at the heart of the organisation she works for. Plotlines are left in the lurch. Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff) is the original Bionic Woman who went nuts and killed a lot of people. Some of the highlights of this show are Sackhoff's storyline and I can't help thinking the show would have been a lot more enjoyable if Sarah Corvus had been main character in the show - and the only Bionic Woman. In fact the "Bionic" aspect of the show is really underplayed and when we do see her jumping it just looks a little ridiculous (obviously being someone on a wire flailing their legs about). The cast do what they can with the script, but it's so watered down and rather silly, that you can't help feel for Ryan who seems miscast. She does a remarkable job with what she's given to work with, but it's just not enough. In fact, the only really well fleshed out character (in that you are never sure if they are good or bad) is Antonio Pope (wonderfully played by Isaiah Washington). It came as no surprise to learn that the show was cancelled after its first season (eight episodes) and I can't help wondering what would have happened if the writers strike hadn't taken place. Would we have ended up with a very different show? Even the extras are a little lacking in any real substance. We get The Making of the Car Crash (1 min, 55 sec); The Stunts (2 min, 47 sec); Profiles for Jamie (1 min, 52 sec); Sarah Corvus (1 min, 39 sec); Jonas (1 min, 45 sec) and one of the executive producers, David Eick (2 min, 07 sec); and Real, Life Bionics (2 min). 6 Nick Smithson Buy this item online
|
|---|
