Knight Rider 2000

So you know where this is coming from: I was in my twenties when Knight Rider ran regularly on NBC. I didn't think much of it then. To me, it was an action-adventure variation on My Mother the Car. So I had low expectations for the return.

My low expectations were easily exceeded. There are some cute plot twists and developments afoot here, bordering on acceptable science fiction. This is NOT great cinema nor film, but it is a fun little movie that doesn't lose sight of what it is.

I bought 'Knight Rider: Season One' on DVD and enjoyed it well enough. The theme music was awesome as I remember it being and there was certainly enough 80's cheese and style in there that it still retained it's nostalgia for me. The bonus disc for season one was 'Knight Rider 2000' and I was actually looking forward to watching it (I had never seen it)...

...let me just say that if you are on the very edge of contemplating suicide and need one last reason to end it all, watch this movie. There's a real unintentional tragedy surrounding the whole thing - we don't get to see the old KITT, there's no trace of the theme music, there's hardly ANY action, the new KITT-car is TERRIBLE-looking, and the film is filled with that early 90's gloss that so many early 90's films were injected with - there's no sense of self-parody and it's taken all too seriously.

There was something actually kind of cool about Jan Hammer's music in this (he's probably best known for doing Miami Vice) - especially the 'main' theme that plays during the end credits. It certainly doesn't match the original, but it does captures the sense of unintentional desolation, emptiness, and tragedy the movie will evoke in the viewer.

This movie was a disapointment for me.Hoping that KR would make some kind of comeback,I was glad to hear of a TV movie coming...however upon watching it,I wished they hadnt shown it at all.KITT the Trans Am was scrapped,Devon was murdered,Bonnie and RC3 were never mentioned,little action (no jumps or any wild KITT stunts),and what became the KNIGHT 4000 was little more than a reskinned Dodge Stealth with front wheel drive (near the end the front tires are seen spinning)that could drive on water and superheat tires to blow out (turbo boost anyone???).The movies ratings were good (top movie that week),but its obvious the formula was tired and there was some serious grasping at straws.Its 2003 and a new KR big screen film is planned.Hopefully the budget will allow more action,and a reborn KITT in the right color (black) will appear on a sleek "sports car" base.If not,and it turns into a Honda Civic/sport compact/fast & furious copycat,they might as well not spend the money.(same could have been said of the Gone in 60 seconds remake...Forget Nicholas Cage,it was Toby Haliki that made history).

I recently bought the knight rider first season DVD after many years absence from viewing knight rider in 1982-1986 and for the very first time saw knight rider 2000 and I must say that I honestly can't believe that they could have made a more disappointing movie. I think it even surpasses Robocop 2 as being the worst sequel ever made.

It is extremely violent, arrogant and Kitt has acquired an attitude problem with a rather foul mouth compared to what we used to see in the series.

Michael Knight said he hated fishing in the second episode and now he is a fisherman which goes to say how much effort was put into the script.

It hurts me to see this movie. Let it fade from our memories.

I watched this film on Netflix out of curiosity. If you enjoyed the 1980s "Knight Rider" series as I have, you will be disappointed by this low quality movie.

The plot follows an illegal arms trade being organized in the "near future" (the year 2000) by corrupt police and government officials, with Michael Knight coming out of retirement and being helped by new protagonists at the Foundation.

The film lacks a lot of what made the original TV series so memorable. There is no black Pontiac, as KITT was sold for scrap and had to be rebuilt. There is no Bonnie, the attractive and intelligent female mechanic who was in most of the series. There is no campy action or offbeat humor, the story is much slower-paced than the typical TV episode. And the beloved theme song is absent.

There's also a lot of discontinuity. Now Michael Knight is a genius with electronics, something that was never the case before. Now KITT uses profanity and throws temper tantrums, both of which were foreign to the original series. To say nothing of the fact that somehow Devon and Knight have both aged very little, even though the story is set 15 years AFTER the series ended (5 years in real life).

That said, its not without its interesting points. It is interesting to see some of the future predictions they had at the time. It is interesting to see the direction that "Knight Rider" went in post-TV series. As someone who just finished watching "Stargate SG-1" on Netflix, it was interesting to see a younger Carmen Argenziano before he was cast as Major Carter's dad.

Avoid unless you are a big Hoff fan or are interested in the things I mentioned above. Better to re-watch the 1980s series instead.