Good movie but grossly overrated

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Frankly, I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews of Painkiller Jane. It seems to me a competent, if not exceptional, sci-fi series with considerable entertainment value, interesting characters, and sometimes engaging plot lines. Some episodes are derivative but none are truly bad, except perhaps for the pointless clip show in episode 16.It certainly focuses more on the emotional than the cerebral, but that's not really a criteria for judging a show, not even a sci-fi show.The writing is solid and the main characters are competent actors. Kristiana Lokken is definitely more than just eye candy -- although the eye candy part does add to the watch-ability -- and she creates a sympathetic and occasionally complex character. (She is credited as a co-executive producer of the series, whatever that means in Hollywoodese). The other main characters are equally competent, although some of the supporting actors are 2nd tier.It is a bit loose at times but it starts to tighten up toward the end of the season when the focus shifts toward following a story arc rather than the neuro of the week, episodic format. I suspect many of the negative reviews arise from two things. The first would be viewers who might be comparing it to the comic book, which I have not read, and which should be irrelevant. The second would be production values which are generally based on budgets. There are no mind-blowing special effects in Painkiller Jane, nor should there be. It's not a space opera.Overall, I think this show got a bad rap, and I would definitely recommend it to sci-fi fans for it's entertainment value.

It is a shame because I wanted to. The premise, while not necessarily great, did intrigue me, and oddly enough there were some interesting ideas that if explored well would've come off very nicely. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like it and saw all the episodes to give it a chance, I couldn't get into it. The idea was intriguing, I did like the strong leader character that Rob Stewart played and he played it well and for a show that would end after 22 or so episodes it did end on a good note rather than on an abrupt or cliffhanger one. However, I found myself not caring much from the filming, even within the genre the settings were colourless and drab and the photography lacked focus all too often. The music was generic and didn't add all that much to the show or to any exciting moments, while the writing constantly feels rushed through and trite. The story lines didn't compel me much, there were weaker episodes than others agreed(though that is true of a lot of shows), but for what promise the pilot did have nothing really takes off from it. There were some good ideas here, but sadly they are not expanded upon enough. The pacing was often dull for me. The characters, even with the clichés, did seem as though they did have potential if given a chance, however I never found myself properly caring for them and their motivations and they did feel like props. Apart from Stewart, the actors never looked as though they were connecting with their characters and came across as bland. I am including the lead Kristiana Loken here too, a gorgeous woman playing a grittier sort of character but an actress that would work better in a (softer) supporting role than a lead. Overall, I gave Painkiller Jane a chance and never found myself involved with it. Although the 2005 TV movie had a lot of problems I did find myself preferring it over the series. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I found this TV show very interesting and full of action. Seeing the "team" bond over time was really good. A bit gory, but I didn't mind. It showed enough "gore" to make it look more realistic, but not slaughterhouse gory. I liked the story line, plot, and the characters. Only thing that really sucked about this series, is the fact they canceled. The story works so well, that when you lose, or think you are losing a character, you actually say to the screen "That Sucks". I am looking forward to watching the actual movie that this TV series is adapted from. Anybody that says this show is "forgetable" doesn't know good TV/movies/production/etc. Ah well, on to trying to find a new series to watch.

Unlike another user who said the pilot was bad but the series "just keeps getting better", I found the pilot to be pretty good for a Scifi Channel pilot, but the series failed to build upon that base and instead churned out the same formula week after week. The multi-episode arc involving Jane's investigation of the source of her abilities was introduced about three episodes too late and was really the only thing that could have saved this. But by that point in the run, people had already given up on the show. And you have to admit that, following on the heels of the success of Heroes -- which also features a hot blonde with amazing healing ability -- PKJ really needed to hit the ground running, rather than stumbling and jogging in place. A competent show with interesting locations, decent acting, but only average scripts and thin characters, it really didn't have much of a chance.