Painkiller Jane (2005)

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Based on a comic book series created by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, the made-for-cable Painkiller Jane stars Emmanuelle Vaugier as Jane Elizabeth Browning, a young Marine captain who is the sole survivor when her Special Ops force is exposed to a biochemical "retrovirus" weapon after raiding an illegal lab. It turns out that the retrovirus has endowed Jane with miraculous self-healing powers, making her virtually invulnerable. Unfortunately, she isn't given much of an opportunity to exercise this unique gift before she is locked up in a military hospital on orders from government shrink Lucas Knight (Tate Donovan). Unwilling to act as guinea pig for an upcoming series of medical experiments, Jane escapes her confines and becomes a fugitive, not only from the government but also from a secret conspiratorial cartel which numbers Dr. Knight (aka Lucas Insley) among its members! She spends the rest of the film thwarting villains and writing wrongs (usually in Bionic Woman-style slow motion action scenes), with the help of her new cohort, handsome thief Nick (Eric Dane). Former Shaft star Richard Roundtree is seen as Jane's Marine mentor Col. Watts, who reluctantly assumes the "Inspector Javert" role in tracking her down on behalf of the authorties. Billed as an "original event" when it first aired December 9, 2005 on the Sci-Fi Channel, the entertaining but highly derivative Painkiller Jane has "two-hour series pilot" written all over it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi