Knight Rider (2008)

A new Knight Rider? Blasphemy, I say! Or said, when I first heard about this film being made. For some very strange reason, I thought this was a cinematic release. It isn't. It's a TV movie.

Now I know that a few of you are already heading for the exit hearing those words. And to be honest, I almost joined you. But I thought; I'll give it a go.

The whole thing feels very much like a long pilot for a TV show. That prospect had be shivering. Knight Rider was brought back a few years ago in the guise of TKR (Team Knight Rider). Team Knight Rider was dreadful Watching it was arse-wrenching (like gut-wrenching but much worse).

The only way to convey how bad it was, is to compare it to other horrors of TV and Film. For Star Wars fans, it's like watching the Star Wars Holiday Special (something that according to every fan who has seen it should never be attempted sober). For Star Trek fans, it's like watching a director's cut of Generations, where Picard travels across time to rescue Kirk, whereupon they fall in love, move to Venice Beach and set up a nightclub where Picard performs showtunes, dressed as a woman.

With my expectations set suitably low, I bunged this on and had a gander. It's surprisingly good.

The technology of KITT has been updated considerably. Instead of an indestructible shell, he now has a nano-morph skin that regenerates damage almost instantly. The effect for this is suitably impressive. They've kept the "super-pursuit" mode, but updated it so it doesn't look so naff. And having KITT be able to mimic other cars (albeit only other Shelby Cobras) is a nice and rather logical addition.

The story is what you'd expect from Knight Rider. Bad guys want to do bad things, KITT and his driver have to stop them. The lack of the Foundation for Law and Government was a major plot contrivance. This film also "de-canonises" Knight Rider 2000, the TV movie made with The Hoff after the TV series finished, and I can't shake the nagging feeling that something nasty has happened to the original KITT in the interim.

There are a few places where the CGI is a little obvious, and I'm not convinced that Val Kilmer was the best choice for KITT's voice. By all accounts he was a last minute choice after the original actor (Will Arnett - see trivia section) had to withdraw after he had recorded all his lines.

Soundtrack is quite good, updated title music is pretty neat and for the most part the special effects deliver. However if it does spawn a TVshow they're going to have to drop at least one character, as there's a couple too many in this film and they don't all have a major part to play.

Score: Overall it's a B - -

Trivia:

Originally, Will Arnett was cast as the voice of K.I.T.T. However, after he had finished recording his lines to everyone's satisfaction, a conflict of interest was raised. His is the distinctive voice heard on General Motors car and truck commercials, but K.I.T.T. is a Ford vehicle. As a result, Val Kilmer was cast as K.I.T.T.'s voice and all of the car's dialogue was re-recorded.

In the beginning, as the thieves are going through the garage, you can see many of the parts from a third generation Firebird, including the outline of an opened hood, a Tune Port Injected engine, as well as the dash of the Knight Industries Two Thousand. Continuity (which I spotted):

When Welther and Smoke are pursuing KITT and Sara in the helicopter, the exterior of the black helicopter is shown three times and each time it is a different helicopter.