Re: did you like the nbc kr movie??
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:46 pm
They definitely did themselves a favor by nodding (albeit occasionally) to the original series. There is an obvious disdain for the old series that the people involved (actors aside) have displayed that comes out in the finished product and in some of the media materials from the magazines and websites. They would do themselves a serious favor to watch the old series and take the best from it because it still stands head and shoulders above this monstrosity in terms of being endearing to the viewer. It fails in all of the same ways that the revival of the Bionic Woman did....
For the most part the characters are very two dimensional and they are not endearing or compelling to care about. Justin Breuning is mostly fine as Mike Tracer (I am actually 85% of the way of being able to image him as a Michael Knight replacement except that Hasselhoff's character is better developed-we never do find out why Mike Tracer is so cynical and just so damn annoying). Also Mike Tracer's character is easily questionable-he is basically a loser at the onset. Michael Long had a life worth living and a career worth having before becoming Michael Knight and just about anybody would want to seek revenge after someone tried to kill them.
The car mostly works, but the different modes aren't really necessary except the color shifting. I thought that that was a nice touch. The morphing also reminds me of the "Viper" series too much. Val Kilmer comes across as dry and not easy to like and there is very little chemistry between him and J. Breuning. The other thing is that Mike Tracer never seems to be amazed by his new ride-vs Michael Knight's constant amazement by the original KITT. A supercar is only super if it impresses it's driver as well. The nanotechnology would be a great addition if it were there to supplement the original Molecular Bonded Shell concept, but early in the show there seemed to be an implication that the bad guys had something that could penetrate the nanotechnology, but this was never elaborated on until we saw that a software failure could disable it.
All in all, this new show may be the "Knight Rider" of today, but it really isn't any cooler than the original (CGI aside...). I was hoping for something along the lines of what "Star Trek: The Next Generation" did for the Star Trek franchise, but it doesn't seem to have happened here. Moreover, I get the feeling that Glen Larson hasn't any real involvement here and that is a grave misstep because he has proven that he is a wiz at creating captivating high-concept television shows. The new producers should be licking his feet to tap into the deep reserves of his imagination.
NBC/Universal: Be on notice.... You will burn....
For the most part the characters are very two dimensional and they are not endearing or compelling to care about. Justin Breuning is mostly fine as Mike Tracer (I am actually 85% of the way of being able to image him as a Michael Knight replacement except that Hasselhoff's character is better developed-we never do find out why Mike Tracer is so cynical and just so damn annoying). Also Mike Tracer's character is easily questionable-he is basically a loser at the onset. Michael Long had a life worth living and a career worth having before becoming Michael Knight and just about anybody would want to seek revenge after someone tried to kill them.
The car mostly works, but the different modes aren't really necessary except the color shifting. I thought that that was a nice touch. The morphing also reminds me of the "Viper" series too much. Val Kilmer comes across as dry and not easy to like and there is very little chemistry between him and J. Breuning. The other thing is that Mike Tracer never seems to be amazed by his new ride-vs Michael Knight's constant amazement by the original KITT. A supercar is only super if it impresses it's driver as well. The nanotechnology would be a great addition if it were there to supplement the original Molecular Bonded Shell concept, but early in the show there seemed to be an implication that the bad guys had something that could penetrate the nanotechnology, but this was never elaborated on until we saw that a software failure could disable it.
All in all, this new show may be the "Knight Rider" of today, but it really isn't any cooler than the original (CGI aside...). I was hoping for something along the lines of what "Star Trek: The Next Generation" did for the Star Trek franchise, but it doesn't seem to have happened here. Moreover, I get the feeling that Glen Larson hasn't any real involvement here and that is a grave misstep because he has proven that he is a wiz at creating captivating high-concept television shows. The new producers should be licking his feet to tap into the deep reserves of his imagination.
NBC/Universal: Be on notice.... You will burn....