Corner of Whatever

I must say that I was really hoping to watch the new Knight Rider series on TV tonight after American Gladiators, but unfortunately NBC decided to run with a movie that will hopefully set the backdrop for the series. It’s funny how networks say that they’re bringing a new show to TV only to reneg and have it become a made-for-TV movie. Now with all this hype over the steroid-infused version of this remake, will NBC move forward and make it a TV series? I think it has a good chance at survival.

So this remake of Knight Rider follows the efforts of this guy who eventually finds out that he’s a descendant of the great Michael Knight and gets to drive the really cool Shelby GT Mustang known as KITT. I’ve watched the old 80s version of Knight Rider and this guy sorta looks like David Hasselhoff (minus the big poofy hair that David had). Anyways, so bad guys are trying to steal some code to take over the world and tries to get access to it by kidnapping the engineer and his daughter. Enter KITT and the “fun” ensues.

What’s very entertaining about this movie is that NBC and Ford have put together little mini-movies that run as commercials where they ask questions about the movie and if you know it, answer and you’ll be entered to win your very own KITT. Of course it’s sponsored by Ford so they also plug On-Star, the Ford Focus, and the Synch technology. It’s a story within a story and very well done. I’m guessing it could even be viral at one point. I like it.

So back to the movie. Turned out that the new Michael’s mom knows the founder of the Knight Foundation and is aware of the two KITTs that ever existed. The ending of the action sequence near the end of the movie is pretty cool and the action sequence is bad ass. And wait, David Hasselhoff even makes an appearance!?!? Yeah, that’s right. The final joining between the old Michael Knight and the new Michael Knight happens here (along with the cool Knight Foundation truck - but it’s a PLANE this time, and the kickass theme song).

The new Knight Rider is pretty baddass and the special effects on the car is impressive. I’m a little thrown off by the camouflage aspect. Apparently the car can morph into different colors and that’s supposed to confuse the enemy? You still tell it’s a Ford Mustang, but if you’re that naive, you won’t notice it because of the different license plate and color. But the interaction between Mike and KITT is amusing. The plot line isn’t dry and the end is just setting more foundation. I felt that 80-90% of the movie is action and action-packed. So if you missed it, go check it on Hulu or something.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Television