toobtalk

Watching Stuff With Our Brains Turned On

A New Knight

Watched the new Knight Rider 2-hour TV movie.

I was pretty impressed.

That’s not to say it’s not without some problems. But those problems are pretty much in line with criticisms that could be lobbed at the original show. The main one being: there’s some pretty bad science involved.

But we’ll let that slide, for now at least.

The thing this new iteration of an old favorite got right was that it played it straight. Unlike Knight Rider 2000, which was a phenomenal mess right from its basic premise, this sequel to the original series manages to pay homage to the ideas that made the first series a success and a memorable piece of pop culture.

KITT, now a Mustang, is actually the Knight Industries Three Thousand (as opposed to the original series Two Thousand model) and is a sensible progression from the original. Yes, the nanotech skin that only works if the computer is turned on seems a bit inconvenient when compared to the previous model’s “always on” super alloy armor, but it allows for some other neat tricks.

Voiced by Val Kilmer (a casting choice I can’t help but think will change if/when this gets picked up as a regular series), the new KITT is less snarky and more analytical than his predecessor. We can chalk that up to the fact that he’s fresh out of the garage and hasn’t had a lot of interaction with people, though.

Over the course of the ninety-minute back-door pilot movie, KITT comes into contact with quite a few people.

Which leads me to my biggest criticism of the show as a whole: there’s too many cast members.

In the original, we had Michael Knight (a man who didn’t exist and had no family) fighting the good fight for the Knight Foundation. It was pretty much just him and the car. Everyone else–Devon, Bonnie and April especially–were just background 90 percent of the time. With the way the new show has been set up by this movie, we’ve got at least three characters that will be jockeying for screen time: Michael Traceur (the driver), KITT and Sarah Graiman (the now seemingly obligatory partner/love interest). Then, just barely below those three we have Charles Graiman (Sarah and KITT’s father) and FBI agent Carrie Rivai (a friend of the Graiman family).

That’s a few characters too many for a show like this unless you’re writers are good and kept on a tight leash. After sitting and hoping for the best through the run of Bionic Woman earlier this season, forgive my lack of faith in that happening on a network sci-fi/action show.

But, as a two-hour movie, things worked relatively well. The action was good, the effects not quite over-done (they did come close to going overboard reminding us that KITT was bullet proof) and the acting not all that bad. Some of the dialog was poorly written and the characters could use a little bit of work (some of the progressions of reaction from them are contrived, at best).

Justin Bruening and Deanna Russo, the two leads, seem to have cut their teeth mostly on soap operas. Knowing this, their acting is still pretty good. The rough spots I think I can contribute to the script, direction or editing that they were working. It wouldn’t be altogether unpleasant to see them on a weekly basis. It’s their characters’ relationship that would wear on me quicker than anything else.

Things are set up quite well for an interesting series. The Knight Foundation has been started back up, this time in partnership with the FBI (a direction I would most certainly not have taken the show in), there’s a shadowy enemy out there looking to cause chaos and take power, and there’s a high-tech car with a good driver looking to prove that one man can make a difference.

Of course, that one man has a girl and a gaggle of friends in tow… so that statement, so iconic and driving in the original series, has a lot less bite this time around.

If NBC picks this up as a series, I would happily check it out. Fans of the original show should at least give the two-hour movie a watch over on the NBC website. Then, let me know what you think about it.

Kier Duros
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