Movie and Television Reviews

youtube

Woops, I meant this one:

youtube

Knight Rider is the third new light-scifi show I've seen of the season, after Bionic Woman and Terminator. I'd put it behind Terminator and about even with the deceased Bionic Woman.

A group of bad guys steal technology from inventor Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison). Needing somebody to break the inscription code on Graiman's computers, the thieves go after his daughter, Sarah (Deana Russo). She's saved by K.I.T.T 3000, Graiman's super car that escaped from the ambush to search for Sarah whom he finds and automatically, through pre-programming, takes Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening). Mike is Michael Knight's, from the original series, son, a former Army ranger in debt to a loan shark.

There's also an F.B.I. agent who doesn't do much of anything.

The series is well-made, if not totally compelling. Some of the chase scenes are very good, especially the crash at the end. The star of the show is K.I.T.T. and it doesn't disappoint. I'm guessing that the producers went with a Ford because GM doesn't sell the Chevy Camaro from Transformers or the Firebird and didn't want to go with the Grand Prix. K.I.T.T is a black 550 HP Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang. His upgrades include the ability to hack into security systems, nanotech that absorbs damage, and the ability to change colors.

The car-human banter is acceptable and the mandatory AI-human feelings-talk ("I don't have feelings") is blissfully short.

Politics/ Message:

There's a homosexual edge to the show that some people might find "revolutionary," and others grating. In one scene, Mike is in bed with two girls and the commercials have the male-voiced, but "neat" sounding K.I.T.T. jealous of Mike's date.

The seemingly superfluous Carrie Ruvai (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) is a lesbian- a promiscuous one at that. In her first scene, she's leaving her apartment and a beautiful, in-bed, blond whom she "just met."

This breaks new ground as it's very rare for action-oriented shows to have homosexual characters; they're usually seen in soap operas like Desperate Housewives or female-oriented comedies like Grey's Anatomy. Since her lesbianism isn't a part of the story, it's obviously an attempt to "mainstream" the behavior (I know our homosexual brothers and sisters are part of our society, but TV doesn't have to be a cross section of our population- there'd be more ugly people.). I personally don't like it. It's another thing to explain to the kids, adds an unwanted and distracting political angle, and frankly, is a hindrance to our nation's attempt to hold an ordered family life as the ideal.

Finally, at the beginning of any social revolution, revolutionaries present the previously scorned on their best behavior. What happens if Ms. Ruvai begins to seduce other women? Will America see it as playfully as it does, say, James Bond or Face from the A Team's conquests or will the seduction carry with it a sense of corruption?

The A-Team - Season One