October 2002, Issue 160

If looks could kill...

Big-screen heroines remain a hard sell, but post-Buffy, high-kicking TV vixens are all the rage. And there are none sexier, or more dangerous, than Alias star Jennifer Garner and Dark Angel's Jessica Alba.

by Chris Hewitt

Scans courtesy of Sian, Vartan Ho #336. Thanks! :)

Quote: "How would I react in a fight? I would try to kick someone in the nuts and run as fast as I could."

Jennifer Garner is a 47 year-old housewife from Detroit. No, wait: she's a coquettish cheerleader from Idaho. Hang on, she's a Golden Globe-winning star of a TV spy show that is kicking all kinds off butt in the States, and is said to do the same here. Confused? Not sure what to believe? (It's the last one, by the way.) Well, welcome to the world of Alias, where frankly insane, 'nothing is as it seems' plot twists are ten-a-penny, and where the 30 year-old actress has Garnered (ahem) critical garlands galore for her performance as Sydney Bristow, a CIA operative (or is she?) caught up in a deadly international conspiracy (or is there one?).

Furiously-paced and action-packed, Alias is pure fun - and Garner, tall, pumped, sexy-with-a-capital-'dear-sweet-Jesus', is its focal point, putting the 'pow' in Girl Power. "I think she (Sydney) is a great role model for me because she doesn't whine," says Garner. "She doesn't piss about anything." Nor does Garner, who is not just someone who can walk, talk and kick ass at the same time, but a damn fine actress to boot, bringing real gravitas to Sydney's plight (no spoilers, but this girl could teach the Skywalkers a thing or two about dysfunctional families).

We did mention her Best Actress In A TV Drama Golden Globe, right? Now the movies are a-calling, too, with a small part in Spielberg's forthcoming Catch Me If You Can, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, and the pivotal role of love interest/assassin Elektra in Daredevil. If this keeps up, Garner will find that an alias is redundant; the whole world will know who she is.

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Short synopsis of what Alias is all about. In the UK only people with Sky One (satellite or cable) have seen Alias so far - it's out on terrestrial TV (Channel 4) in mid-September.

ALIAS
Channel 4, from mid-September

As Sky One viewers should already know, the pilot to J.J. Abrams' undercover agent show is an instant classic. The set-up is beautifully simple: mild-mannered law student Sydney Bristow leads a double life as a beautiful, but deadly spy for CIA-related agency, SD-6. And yet from that initial premise - surely enough to sustain a full season - Abrams throws so many unexpected twists [deaths, betrayal] into the opening hour-and-a-half, that you may well ask yourself, "Where can the show go from here?" Well, the answer is, pretty much all over the place. Not content with making his sexy-as-all-hell star [Jennifer Garner] a double, double agent, Abrams makes Sydney a central player in a hokey, semi-mystical, future-war type thing as foretold by strange scrolls.

Still, even as the rest of the season lacks the impact or consistency of the pilot, this is good, glossy entertainment with a surprisingly mean streak. Hell, Garner's costume changes alone would make this worth watching. Season 2 is due on Sky One in the new year, and promises more of the same, with revelations about Sydney's mother and the shadowy global conspiracy which shows every sign of becoming as complex as The X-Files.

© Empire 2002

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