This glossy NBC-TV character-driven thriller arrives about a year after the British Broadcasting Company revived Robert Lewis Stevenson's horror classic "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" as the basis for "Jekyll." The imaginative Brits updated the setting to contemporary society and tweaked the formula. For example, the protagonist no longer precipitated his change of character with narcotics as the catalyzing agent. In the BBC television mini-series, the protagonist knows that he suffers from a split personality. He has gained some measure of control over his other personality. Moreover, he suspects he may be an offspring of the infamous Mr. Hyde, despite the fact that Dr. Henry Jekyll died a virgin. The hero totes around a voice recorder and leaves messages for his alter ego. These messages consist of updates about daily changes and threats; updates about his activities and threats if his other self does them. The protagonist learns that a shadowy organization is monitoring him because of his unique condition. They hope that he can unlock the keys to many of life's mysteries. "Jekyll" constituted an imaginative spin on the venerable but jaded character.
Now, we Americans have contrived our own unofficial version of "Jekyll" and NBC has titled it aptly enough, "My Own Worst Enemy." As you might expect, NBC has tinkered with "Jekyll" and turned their variation into a conventional James Bond meets Jason Bourne knock-off. Actually, no link exists between the Stevenson story and this slick NBC-TV adventure opus about an anonymous secret agent organization. Nevertheless, you know where they got their idea!
"True Romance" star Christian Slater is perfectly cast as an individual who alternates between being an abrasive secret agent named Edward Albright and an meek efficiency expert, Henry Spivey, with a wife and two teenagers, one girl and one boy, cradled in domestic bliss in the suburbs. Altogether, "My Own Worst Enemy" lacks the edgy quality of "Jekyll" and its formula fueled fracases could wear out their welcome fast. Nevertheless, it's fun to see Slater back in the limelight instead of in another lame, straight-to-video thriller. The first episode boasts a couple of surprises that may catch you off-guard.
The first scene in "Breakdown" has our virile secret agent hero Edward (Christian Slater) in Paris wondering how he can attract the attention of the KGB. Edward arranges a rendezvous with an enemy babe agent that his stern boss Mavis Heller (Alfre Woodard of "Passion Fish") wants him to bring in for questioning. He has some wall banging sex with the enemy babe and then she tries to kill him and he puts a bullet in her forehead, like a western gunslinger. "She killed the bed," he defends himself to his boss. The opening shoot-out resembles a scene from the first James Bond movie "Dr. No" where Professor Dent shot a pillow masquerading as 007 in a bed. Bond caught Dent off guard and wound up killing in a controversial shooting because Dent had shot his pistol empty and couldn't defend himself. Slater's secret agent ices the villainess without a qualm. Later, after Mavis debriefs him, he enters an elevator, undergoes some kind of transformation and finds himself at his alter ego's day job.
The catch is that--as in "Jekyll"--the show's conflict grows out of the sudden, unanticipated changes in personality. During a political assassination attempt in Moscow, Edward reverts to Henry, and the Russians subject our hero to the most prime-time television can show in term of torture. Henry assures his captors that he knows no Edward. Suddenly, the cavalry arrives in the form of one of his fellow agents. The scene recalls Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" when Robert De Niro would show up out of the blue in full SWAT regalia to rescue the imperiled hero. Back in Mavis' office, an angry Henry demands to know what has happened to him. Was he brain washed, he asks. Mavis reveals that the company "manifested a divergent identity dormant in a sealed off portion of the medial temporal lobe creating a split-personality." Somehow, they have placed a micro chip in Edward's head that activates Henry, and there is a glitch in the system. When Henry complains that he never volunteered for such a procedure, Mavis informs him that Edward did! Moreover, Henry fears that he is being used in an experiment. Mavis surprises Henry when she reveals that he has been the experiment for 19 years!
Mavis tells Henry that Edward had his own secrets and she takes Henry to Edward's place. Alone, Henry discovers Edward's secret room concealed behind his big-screen television. Accidentally, he thumb printed himself on his remote control and it activated the mechanism. Henry learns that Edward was a Medal of Honor recipient. Henry borrows a jacket and peels off in Edward's sports car. During the drive, Henry mutates back into Edward; a freaked out Edward calls Mavis and wants to know what happened. She notifies him that they are working on a solution. Later, Edward sleeps with Henry's wife and she purrs like a cat after sex with him. Of course, there is no nudity to speak of.
Although there are allusions to James Bond, "My Own Worst Enemy" seems like a mutation of the Jason Bourne movies. Bourne suffered from amnesia in the first movie. The split personality that Edward has that comes and goes at random affects him as much as Bourne's amnesia afflicted him. "My Own Worse Enemy" looks like it could be a lot of fun. I saw the free sneak preview of this program at Amazon.Com.
Now, we Americans have contrived our own unofficial version of "Jekyll" and NBC has titled it aptly enough, "My Own Worst Enemy." As you might expect, NBC has tinkered with "Jekyll" and turned their variation into a conventional James Bond meets Jason Bourne knock-off. Actually, no link exists between the Stevenson story and this slick NBC-TV adventure opus about an anonymous secret agent organization. Nevertheless, you know where they got their idea!
"True Romance" star Christian Slater is perfectly cast as an individual who alternates between being an abrasive secret agent named Edward Albright and an meek efficiency expert, Henry Spivey, with a wife and two teenagers, one girl and one boy, cradled in domestic bliss in the suburbs. Altogether, "My Own Worst Enemy" lacks the edgy quality of "Jekyll" and its formula fueled fracases could wear out their welcome fast. Nevertheless, it's fun to see Slater back in the limelight instead of in another lame, straight-to-video thriller. The first episode boasts a couple of surprises that may catch you off-guard.
The first scene in "Breakdown" has our virile secret agent hero Edward (Christian Slater) in Paris wondering how he can attract the attention of the KGB. Edward arranges a rendezvous with an enemy babe agent that his stern boss Mavis Heller (Alfre Woodard of "Passion Fish") wants him to bring in for questioning. He has some wall banging sex with the enemy babe and then she tries to kill him and he puts a bullet in her forehead, like a western gunslinger. "She killed the bed," he defends himself to his boss. The opening shoot-out resembles a scene from the first James Bond movie "Dr. No" where Professor Dent shot a pillow masquerading as 007 in a bed. Bond caught Dent off guard and wound up killing in a controversial shooting because Dent had shot his pistol empty and couldn't defend himself. Slater's secret agent ices the villainess without a qualm. Later, after Mavis debriefs him, he enters an elevator, undergoes some kind of transformation and finds himself at his alter ego's day job.
The catch is that--as in "Jekyll"--the show's conflict grows out of the sudden, unanticipated changes in personality. During a political assassination attempt in Moscow, Edward reverts to Henry, and the Russians subject our hero to the most prime-time television can show in term of torture. Henry assures his captors that he knows no Edward. Suddenly, the cavalry arrives in the form of one of his fellow agents. The scene recalls Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" when Robert De Niro would show up out of the blue in full SWAT regalia to rescue the imperiled hero. Back in Mavis' office, an angry Henry demands to know what has happened to him. Was he brain washed, he asks. Mavis reveals that the company "manifested a divergent identity dormant in a sealed off portion of the medial temporal lobe creating a split-personality." Somehow, they have placed a micro chip in Edward's head that activates Henry, and there is a glitch in the system. When Henry complains that he never volunteered for such a procedure, Mavis informs him that Edward did! Moreover, Henry fears that he is being used in an experiment. Mavis surprises Henry when she reveals that he has been the experiment for 19 years!
Mavis tells Henry that Edward had his own secrets and she takes Henry to Edward's place. Alone, Henry discovers Edward's secret room concealed behind his big-screen television. Accidentally, he thumb printed himself on his remote control and it activated the mechanism. Henry learns that Edward was a Medal of Honor recipient. Henry borrows a jacket and peels off in Edward's sports car. During the drive, Henry mutates back into Edward; a freaked out Edward calls Mavis and wants to know what happened. She notifies him that they are working on a solution. Later, Edward sleeps with Henry's wife and she purrs like a cat after sex with him. Of course, there is no nudity to speak of.
Although there are allusions to James Bond, "My Own Worst Enemy" seems like a mutation of the Jason Bourne movies. Bourne suffered from amnesia in the first movie. The split personality that Edward has that comes and goes at random affects him as much as Bourne's amnesia afflicted him. "My Own Worse Enemy" looks like it could be a lot of fun. I saw the free sneak preview of this program at Amazon.Com.