The Pretender 2001

Infobox_Film
name =The Pretender 2001
director =Frederick King Keller
writer =Steven Long Mitchell
Craig W. Van Sickle
runtime = 96 minutes
format =Action
starring =Michael T. Weiss
Andrea Parker
Patrick Bauchau
Jon Gries
Richard Marcus
Jamie Denton
Harve Presnell
distributor =TNT
released =January 22 2001
preceded_by = The Pretender TV series
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0271732
tv_com_id = 26551
amg_id = 1:412235

The Pretender 2001 (also called Pretender 2001) was the first of the two "The Pretender" telemovies to air after the series was cancelled from the NBC. It originally aired on TNT on January 22, 2001. The movie earned a 4.4 Nielsen rating, making it one of the top ten primetime shows on cable for January 2001. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117792979.html?categoryid=14&cs=1]

Plot

The story reunites the entire cast from the series, effectively picking up where the season four cliffhanger ended. Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) , Ethan, and Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) are alive after the bomb explosion on the train. Jarod is now posing as an agent of the National Security Agency; he is part of a task force assembled to find the "Chameleon", a killer who displays all the adaptive traits of a Pretender.

The Centre is forced to put its hunt for Jarod on hold after its administrator, Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) is abducted. Ms. Parker discovers that William Raines (Richard Marcus) is still alive, despite allegedly being shot dead by her father. Her brother, Mr. Lyle (James Denton), attempts to finish Raines off, but Ms. Parker manages to spirit him away and hide him in her house. In return, Raines agrees to shed light on who might have kidnapped her father.

Jarod begins receiving taunting clues from the Chameleon, which leads him to believe that the killer holds a grudge against him personally. This revelation takes Jarod back to the days leading up to his escape from the Centre; he did not originally plan to leave alone. Jarod hatched a plan with two fellow Pretenders, including a man named Alex (Peter Outerbridge), to escape from the facility together. Unfortunately, Alex was captured during their escape. He was swiftly sent out of the country and endured hideous torture by his captors; Alex now wants revenge on Jarod as a result. Observing that Jarod's search for his biological family has allowed the Centre to continue to dominate him, Alex took the opposite path by finding his own family and then murdering them. From his perspective, this has 'freed' him from the Centre's control; however, he is still not satisfied and kidnaps Mr. Parker with the intent of killing him too.

After incriminating evidence that points to Jarod is left behind by Alex, Jarod's partners at the NSA suspect him of being the "Chameleon." The Centre's programmer, Broots (Jon Gries), is on Jarod's trail when he is amusingly swept up in the NSA investigation and thrown into an interrogation room. Jarod immediately recognizes Broots, but decides to cover up for up him rather than risk exposing them both. As Jarod is escorting Broots out of the NSA building, Jarod's partners move in to arrest them both. Jarod flees in a vehicle with Broots in tow, then later ditches him by the side of the road.

At the climax, Jarod thwarts Alex's next assassination and helps free Mr. Parker. Before he commits suicide, Alex gloats that the truth of Jarod's true identity will die with him. Mr. Parker is injured during the struggle and rendered catatonic. As Jarod and Ms. Parker exchange words over the phone, both of them receive an anonymous email simultaneously; the message contains an image of two women, the mothers of Ms. Parker and Jarod, standing together. The email is revealed to have been sent by Mr. Raines himself, apparently as a show of thanks for rescuing him.

Cast

*Michael T. Weiss as Jarod
*Andrea Parker as Miss Parker/Catherine Parker
*Patrick Bauchau as Sydney
*Jon Gries as Broots
*Harve Presnell as Mr. Parker
*Richard Marcus as William Raines
*James Denton as Mr. Lyle (as Jamie Denton)
*Tyler Christopher as Ethan
*Peter Outerbridge as Alex
*Cynthia Dale as Agent Zane
*Derwin Jordan as NSA Agent
*Yannick Bisson as NSA Agent Edward Ballinger