The Pretender 2001 revolves around Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) and the agents of The Centre, led by Miss Parker (Andrea Parker). Jarod is a genius with the ability to master any identity and become anyone he wants to be in any profession. The Centre, is a corporation that isolated Jarod as a child and abused and used his genius for their research. Jarod escaped and Miss Parker, former head of The Centre's security, was called in to lead the team in bringing him back.

This movie breaks slightly from the chase after Jarod and moves forward with a Star Wars: Episode I feeling as it digs up the backstory behind the characters. This includes learning the secrets and conspiracies involved with Miss Parker's father, Jarod's abduction, the escape of Jarod and two others from The Centre, Miss Parker's mysterious visions of her mother, the hidden relationships between the characters, and a lot more. All this coupled with Jarod's search for the third pretender Jarod escaped with and Jarod's search for a master criminal known as "The Chameleon" and how these tangled webs interweave and unravel in an explosive and revealing conclusion.

Jarod and Miss Parker each search for their own truth and the answers to secrets and find truth among the many lies that have each been told. I was particularly impressed with Angela Parker's portrayal of Miss Parker. I felt that her plotlines in this film were the most interesting and the way she continues to shape her character with intensity and vulnerability in perfect balance is the work of a fine actress.

Even fellow cast member Richard Marcus, who plays Raines, stated, "Miss Parker's edge comes from her intelligence. Miss Parker knows what people are thinking before they speak. She is very observant and that gives her power over people." What he said is absolutely true, there are several scenes in which she dominates over the other players by being smarter, faster and getting into people's minds in order to get what she wants, or needs, out of them. Those scenes are by far the strongest.

You may notice that I'm not going into a lot of plot points, that's because if I did I would ruin the unwinding effect that is so cleverly written and directed throughout this feature. This makes it difficult to write about but very engaging to watch. The story is very cleverly done and will easily segway into a possible new syndicated series very well. This film opens up a whole new can of worms and, while keeping the same characters, successfully builds something new from the existing material. I mentioned Star Wars earlier and that's because several plot points that were used in the Star Wars movies are reinvented with The Pretender 2001 (I won't say which ones - but you'll be able to pick them out).

I'll be honest, the first time I watched this movie all the way through, I was a little lost. Probably because I never got into the original series and although there aren't a lot of references to the original and this movie is able to stand alone, much like Terminator 2 can stand alone, it does help to know these characters from the get-go instead of trying to figure out who they are within this movie alone. I watched a bunch of episodes from the original series, TNT is rerunning them daily and will be holding a Pretender marathon on January 22nd along with an online chat with Weiss and Parker at www.tnt.turner.com before the movie premieres at 8 p.m. I would recommend checking out some episodes from the original before the movie premieres especially to get a handle on the characters.

It made the movie that much better knowing the series better, so in other words the movie is pretty great, I haven't seen the final cut yet, but the special effects look like they are going to be pretty great too! I liked the story, I liked the mystery that was created and along with the Star Wars feel - there's evidence of The X-Files in the mix as well. Don't miss Pretender 2001!!

Robert Bach is a writer and musician and former entertainment editor for an East Coast publication.

Got a problem? Email Robert at filmmonthly@hotmail.com