Knight Rider 2000 (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews (48)

Not the best follow up to the classic show

[nathanjamesemerson · 6/10 · 25 September 2018]

I am a huge fan of Knight Rider. I collect all the models, books and comics which have been released.

I was hooked on the show when I was a kid in the 80's.

After they unwisely cancelled the show, I never thought I would see anything Knight Rider related again. Until one day my mother rented Knight Rider 2000 home unexpectedly from the video store.

Needless to say I was really excited. After watching the made for tv film, I was let down.

It was a very touching moment to see Michael and Devon reunite. And it was even more exciting to see Michael see KITT for the first time in years. But they were the best parts of the movie.

It was blasphemy to not include KITT in his trans am form. It was also shocking that there were no stunts at all featuring KITT in the Banshee car. Unless you count the scene when he drives on water. Not very exciting or thrilling. And the computer effects were rather bad. KITT didn't need any of the rubbish displayed on his windscreen in the original.

His new partner Shawn was rather annoying. She was ok, but hardly a match for KITT, even sharing an implant in her head related to him.

The most shocking thing of all was killing off Devon. There was no need for that and it honestly served no purpose.

And the personality of KITT himself changed. He was a smart a$$. He could be sarcastic in the original but this new tone did not suit him at all.

It was a backdoor pilot which would have maybe got interesting if a series was picked up. But it seemed like they didn't care. Those who made it never understood the appeal of the original and this comes off more as a cheap low budget fan film which happens to feature some stars from the original.

If you want to see a more true sequel to the original show, watch the 2008 series instead which ignores the events of this movie as well as the awful Team Knight Rider Show which came out in the mid 90's

Better Than Expected

[Apostic · 5/10 · 22 July 2001]

So you know where this is coming from: I was in my twenties when Knight Rider ran regularly on NBC. I didn't think much of it then. To me, it was an action-adventure variation on My Mother the Car. So I had low expectations for the return.

My low expectations were easily exceeded. There are some cute plot twists and developments afoot here, bordering on acceptable science fiction. This is NOT great cinema nor film, but it is a fun little movie that doesn't lose sight of what it is.

A Poor Follow-up to the 1980s series.

[crossnation · 4/10 · 13 December 2021]

I watched this film on Netflix out of curiosity. If you enjoyed the 1980s "Knight Rider" series as I have, you will be disappointed by this low quality movie.

The plot follows an illegal arms trade being organized in the "near future" (the year 2000) by corrupt police and government officials, with Michael Knight coming out of retirement and being helped by new protagonists at the Foundation.

The film lacks a lot of what made the original TV series so memorable. There is no black Pontiac, as KITT was sold for scrap and had to be rebuilt. There is no Bonnie, the attractive and intelligent female mechanic who was in most of the series. There is no campy action or offbeat humor, the story is much slower-paced than the typical TV episode. And the beloved theme song is absent.

There's also a lot of discontinuity. Now Michael Knight is a genius with electronics, something that was never the case before. Now KITT uses profanity and throws temper tantrums, both of which were foreign to the original series. To say nothing of the fact that somehow Devon and Knight have both aged very little, even though the story is set 15 years AFTER the series ended (5 years in real life).

That said, its not without its interesting points. It is interesting to see some of the future predictions they had at the time. It is interesting to see the direction that "Knight Rider" went in post-TV series. As someone who just finished watching "Stargate SG-1" on Netflix, it was interesting to see a younger Carmen Argenziano before he was cast as Major Carter's dad.

Avoid unless you are a big Hoff fan or are interested in the things I mentioned above. Better to re-watch the 1980s series instead.

Off the rack script

[lafeber · 27 September 2004]

This must be the worst movie ever. Not so bad that it can become cult, but the most unimaginative cud of a nostalgic concept. Knight Rider in the old days was cool, mysterious, fun. Even the later series had something. Forget everything. Take your standard washed out male lead (what was David THINKING?), your average conflict with the female lead, your run of the mill bad guy and don't forget to end it with the showdown that has been done 1000 of times. Of course the bad guy falls over the railing! What do you expect? And KITT in a two-tone low ride? It's not even funny. Never see this movie if you like Knight Rider before.

sacrilege

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 1/10 · 3 June 2020]

Total embarrassingly bad junk. Just goes to show, new isn't always better. You'd think WOW all those years later, all the new technology... but nah! Wonder what Mr. Larson thought of this pathetic effort? The car is surprisingly bad. I can just see the executives at Pontiac smirking and shaking their heads. That Dodge Stealth is all flash and no style. I didn't like the female lead at first, but I did warm to her further on in. But one thing's for sure. In 1991, lots of old boys born during the mid-Seventies settled in and started to watch. Collective cry rang out... "What's this? KNIGHT RIDER without K.I.T.T.?" Channels were flipped, the commercials on the other networks were much, much better.

No Bonnie, no April, Michael is a dejected has-been, no Knight truck, very few car chase scenes...

Worst thing to inflict on a KNIGHT RIDER fan.

What ever happened to KR?

[knt2000 · 1/10 · 8 November 2002]

This movie is absolutely pointless. I think that they should have left the black Trans AM in the film the whole time. What's up with that Knight 4000? It had nothing the black T/A had like all of the functions, gadgets or even turbo boosts! Why does Michael Knight have a '57 Chevy in the film? Why can't he just keep the T/A and just go on with a new assignment from there? Everything should have been continued off from the original series. The original series had action, adventure, romance and there were some thrilling episodes. How come the KR2000 never had any of that stuff? Let's hope that the new Knight Rider movie will be a lot better than KR2000.

Awful !!!

[imdb-11062 · 1/10 · 19 January 2006]

This movie stunk to high ....

This movie's plot was a joke and was made a joke. A total smack in the face of the series! I can understand Michael retiring and leaving KITT to the foundation to continue on with another driver, but once I found out that KITT got dismantled after he got "outdated", I was enraged!! Why didn't they just give him to Michael? After ALL they went though together, why couldn't they just honor Michael and have KITT retire with him. Seeing KITT in a BIN was way to heart breaking!!! Killing off Devon was another terrible piece of the plot. That was totally not needed to be done, and for what...

As for the ending, it finally put KITT in the RED car. The problem with that is I remember in one of the episodes that KITT had to be covered inside a RED fancy car shell for a mission and when he finally was out of it they asked him if he liked RED. He said "I'm the Knight Industries Two Thousand ... not a tomato on wheels". Now I totally agree. The car should be BLACK, not RED (just doesn't fit).

There were other terrible pieces of the plot and I could go on for several paragraphs but let's just say the movie did not have any good spots at all! You can tell Glen Larson had nothing to do with this movie. The plot was just not him. Hopefully in the next movie (yes, hopefully), now that they might have Glen Larson on board, they will just forget this movie existed (leave it in an alternate universe) and have it continued straight from the series' end and not this unfortunately made movie's end.

I wish I could unseen it and never find out about it.

[esteratabor · 2/10 · 26 November 2019]

OMG!!! Are you serious? Who came out with such a lame idea for movie... the original series if Knight Rider were much better quality, much more fun, and much more KITT and Michael. This movie has nothing to do with it. Boring, no original KITT- just a voice, 2 familiar actors and that's it... the concept of future could be cool but even that they didn't got right. I just wanna forget I've ever seen this horrible movie and just love the original series as they reserve it.

Big Disappointment

[gary93 · 1/10 · 11 May 2005]

I've always been a big Knight Rider fan since I was a kid and I admit I've even thought about buying a mid-80s black Trans Am so I could cruise around pretending like I was Michael Knight. So after watching season one of the show on DVD and then watching this poor excuse for a movie, I am a little ticked.

First of all, where is the black Trans Am that everyone loved? I mean if you're going to replace the car at least do it with something better, not some huge front-wheel drive piece of crap.

Secondly, why did Michael turn into a wimp who wants to spend his life fishing instead of kicking ass?

Next, the music is awful. Again don't fix it if it ain't broke. The old theme was awesome and the new music doesn't even have an identifiable theme. It's just sleepy synthesized elevator music.

Why does Devon have to die, and in such a lame way? That was ridiculous.

Lastly, where is the car??? I know I said this before but I spent the whole movie waiting for the old car to pop up and it never came. And the new one sucks. Bad.

I would give this 2 stars out of pity but basically I blame crap like this for ruining the Knight Rider franchise. Yeah and Team Knight Rider sucked too.

A pleasant ambiance sees this through

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 22 October 2016]

A TV movie updating of the classic KNIGHT RIDER series, this was envisaged as a pilot for a new revamped show which didn't get picked up. However, it's still pretty entertaining for what it is, and it has a lot of fan-pleasing elements included too. The story sees KITT rebuilt from scratch and David Hasselhoff coming out of retirement to help fight corruption from within the police force as well as a murderous mad man intent on wreaking havoc in the city.

KNIGHT RIDER 2000 has a pleasant early '90s feel to it which brings it in line with sci-fi fare from that era. The early futuristic set dressing is quite fun as is the political debate, and the cast members all do a dedicated job. I was particularly delighted to see Mitch Pileggi playing another villainous role riffing on his turn in Wes Craven's SHOCKER. The one let down is the action; there are few action scenes and those that do take place simply aren't very good, but the film as a whole has a solid ambiance that makes it rather likable.

Absolute Garbage!

[yogibeark2 · 1/10 · 23 May 2018]

This is NOT a Knight Rider film as the people who have ever watched the original series will understand. It just contains 2 of the actors from the old and EXCELLENT TV Series. Please, if you are a fan of the original DO NOT WATCH. You will be seriously disappointed. If you have never seen any of the old Knight Rider series then you may be able to watch this as just another film. But, please, do not watch this as a premise to watching the TV Series. They are totally different. The TV Series is hard hitting, exciting, gripping and contains the real KITT. This is just a really bad joke.

This movie proves that "One man can still make a difference".

[jeffman52001 · 10/10 · 31 December 2004]

I remember seeing "Knight Rider 2000" when it came out in 1991,I loved it then and I loved it now,it was so great to see David Hasselhoff reprise his role as Michael Knight and Edward Mulhare as Devon Miles,William Daniels as the voice of KITT.

In the year 2000,in Seattle,Washington,hand guns are banned,and some of the criminals are frozen in suspended animation for their sentence.Devon Miles and Russell Maddock,F.L.A.G.'s VP,played by Carmen Argenziano(Sudden Impact and Booker) deal with the politicians of Seattle,trying to get them to form a partnership with The Foundation For Law And Government.They have a new car called the "Knight 4000",which is still need of testing.Devon goes visit an old friend,Michael Knight,who retired from the Foundation in 1990 to live a quiet life and to fish.Devon asks Michael for help,Michael is reluctant but does come back.Devon finds out that KITT was scrapped,his parts sold cause of Russell Maddock.they do get some of KITT's components back except a chip.Michael putts KITT's central processing unit together,KITT is functioning again.

Later,the Mayor is at a dinner,and gets murdered by a guy in a ski mask and a young lady cop named Shawn McCormick,played by the beautiful Susan Norman,deals with the man,but the man gets away,Officer McCormick finds the gun and stumbles on the conspiracy of some members of the police force.Shawn and her partner investigate a robbery and Shawn gets shot in the head by Thomas Watts,a prisoner from the cryo-prison who gets released,played by Mitch Pileggi(Shocker and The X Files),a former cop who was convicted of murder.Thomas Watts want to sell guns on the open market.Shawn McCormick's life gets saved by a doctor who gives her a chip in the brain,though the city commissioner did not authorized the doctor to do so.Shawn is upset to learn that the commissioner did not want to authorize the chip implant,Shawn tells her off and resigns from the police force.Shawn goes to The Foundation For Law and Government for a job interview with Russell Maddock and Devon Miles.Michael finds out where KITT's missing chip went to,Devon introduces Shawn McCormick to Michael as the missing chip cause KITT's chip is implanted in Shawn McCormick's brain.Shawn and Michael go work together and KITT,who is now inside Michael Knight's 1957 Chevy,go to work and manage to help Shawn regain some of her memory.They discover a conspiracy in the police force,Russell Maddock is convinced that is is also higher up.

Michael and KITT manage to tap into the police computer frame by KITT getting a jump start.meanwhile,Russell Maddock and Devon go for a drive in the Knight 4000,it has the voice of Russell Maddock.Devon and Russell Maddock start to show respect for one another and as when Russell leaves,Devon is abducted by Thomas Watts's rogue cops and is murdered.Michael and Shawn narrowly escapes the rogue cops by driving into the sea.Michael,after Devon's funeral,decides to leave,he his hurt very badly by the death of Devon.Shawn goes to talk to Michael about coming back,she knows why Michael left the Foundation in 1990 cause Michael became burned out.Michael does come back,he puts KITT's central processing unit into the Knight 4000,Russell Maddock couldn't believe that Michael did that.Michael and Shawn go out to deal with Thomas Watts and his group of rogue cops,they find out the new mayor is the one who is in charge of the gun sales and the release of Watts from the cryo-prison.Michael,KITT, and Shawn deal Watts.Things are better now,Shawn,now has a new partner,KITT,Michael is going back to retirement to fish..

I give this TV movie 10/10 stars and 2 thumbs up.

A special guest appearance by James Doohan(Scotty of Star Trek)as himself made this movie more interesting.

neat but not Knight Rider.

[TheHIGGANS · 7/10 · 1 March 2006]

While not quite true to the original Knight Rider show this is still a very well done movie. It was just a TV movie not a big blockbuster, but good all the same. Everyone loved the original KR theme but Jan Hammer really shocked me with a beautiful score. The new car was based off of the 1988 Pontiac Banshee (an nice looking car actually). While KITT is now very very grumpy and furiously sarcastic (I guess being stuck in storage for 15 years can do that to you). KITT does not have most of his previous features. Yup, no Ski mode, SPM, oil slick, and (can you believe it?)...NO TURBO BOOST!!!! A decent plot, but all fans miss the original Black Trans Am flying through the air.

This was pathetic.

[Mastrobuono1029 · 1/10 · 20 April 2006]

I have been a fan of Knight Rider for a long time. I am only 14 years old but i used to watch the re runs of the shows on TV back in the 90s. After the show went off the air I thought I'd never see it again. Then I found out about season one's release and rushed out and bought it. I was very excited to see "Knight Rider 2000" in there because I'd never heard of it before. So I watch all the episodes and saved (what i thought would be) the best for last. I watched the movie and was horrified for a couple of huge reasons:

1) NO KNIGHT RIDER ORIGINAL THEME 2) NO 1980'S BLACK PONTIAC TRANS AM 3) K.I.T.T. HAD ATTITUDE AND WAS AN ASSHOLE 4) NO BONNIE BARSTOW 5) DEVON MILES IS MURDERED

So does that answer your question on my opinion of this movie? I honestly found it to be insulting to the original series. It is almost nothing like "Knight Rider". Don't watch this movie if your a true Knight Rider fan like me, you will be disappointed.

So where's KITT?

[modius · 5 February 2006]

So they decided to make a Knight Rider TV movie with no budget, no action, no stunts and they decided to play it very seriously.

An American future without guns sounds like a good idea for a b-movie, but in a TV show that had tactical nuclear warheads being sold on the black market to shady businessmen every week you kinda expected a bit more from this lacklustre, banal TV movie.

There's no KITT, they've replaced the famous Black Trans-Am with some red car that does NO STUNTS whatsoever. Devon is killed by the bad guys, but should have just retired.

This movie is so bad, so awful, so woeful that I dread to think what the much rumoured "new" Knight Rider movie, Knight Rider 3000, will be like - if its anything like this it'll burn and burn badly.

Mysterious Medical Technician

[juliette-moore64 · 4/10 · 25 September 2012]

It was not the best of movies, but that 30 seconds on screen got my big brother his SAG card & a move to Hollyweird. He only went to the audition as company for a friend. Friend did not get the part. I don't even remember who that was. We were sad to see that all but that 30 seconds were cut. I think my mom still has this on VHS. She was SO proud of him. Still missing my J.W. That SAG card opened a few doors, but he was most proud of gaining entry into IATSE Local 33, in Hollywood. His Hollywood family took care of him, especially when we could not be there to help him fight his cancer. Bad movie? Mebbe, but it sure earned one young man his dream. Ups the appeal, in my eyes.

Pointless Movie Designed to Profit From Show's Success

[bull-frog · 2/10 · 17 December 2006]

This is one of the most horrible movies that I've seen. The movie happened to be a DVD bonus to season one. The regular episodes were bad enough, but the movie managed to be even worse. At least in the regular episodes the car could do some cool tricks and it had the friendly dialogue between Knight. The director and scriptwriters in KR 2000 evidently didn't know what the hell they were doing. There was no chemistry between cast members. The character development was very poor, especially of McCormick. With her obnoxious stuck up personality, you almost wished she was killed. Also, the car plays a small role in this show unlike the regular television series. On the positive side I thought the acting was better and the fight scenes more realistic than in the regular episodes.

Inferior to the series

[artgutierrez · 1/10 · 11 March 2022]

It's impossible to avoid comparing the series to this movie. What I came away with is that this low quality movie really takes a fat steamy dump on its source material. The series itself was pure cheesy awesomeness. The relationship between Michael and KITT's AI in the series is just not present at all in this film. In the series, KITT always had plenty of screen time. Not so in this movie. KITT in the series was a gorgeous black sports car. The red monstrosity in this film is absolutely hideous. Killing Devon Miles? Are you serious?? No FLAG Mobile Command Trailer?? And why wasn't Bonnie and Reginald in the movie? So many red flags in this film.

Poorly made

[sweber3303-590-815866 · 4/10 · 4 December 2021]

The quality of everything from the acting to the costumes was awful. Police officers wearing uniforms that don't fit, Adidas tennis shoes, police cars with sad sounding sirens, cheap POLICE hats, and a new KITT car that looks like it was something out of the Jetsons.

They really missed an opportunity by underfunding, and putting a lackluster effort into it. No wonder it wasn't picked up for a series.

Poor sequel to the television series.

[bmwlogisticsdriver · 2/10 · 24 January 2022]

If you are a fan of 80s television, don't watch this crazy comeback movie that was made in 1991 right after the series ended. Too much heartache and HEADACHE!!

Movie baaaaad.... Hasselhoff gooooood

[SkullScreamerReturns · 6/10 · 4 April 2021]

In theory everything with Hasselhoff is godly. In practice that is only half true. Knight Rider 2000 isn't as bad as I expected but also not as fantastic Hoff-fest I hoped for. Still, I must say his mere existence raises this quite bad movie to a mildly entertaining category. It's a tv movie but it looks amateurish even for that... almost like a fan film or something. But I got used to the style and in the end it didn't bother me that much. Even though the absence of the classic KITT car is a bit disappointing, it's still a Knight Rider movie (even though it's better to stick to the original series unless you have watched it and want something more.)

Who do I recommend this movie: ONLY to Hasselhoff megafans (those who wear the "Hoff Army" patch that comes with his newest cd album. Mine is still intact...though I also have a brand new denim vest waiting...

Future Not really that Predicted for KR

[ShelbyTMItchell · 4/10 · 22 December 2017]

As really that in the future of Knight Rider that the cars would be made. Though it does get it right still it is far from it. But maybe not in our lifetimes.

As Michael Knight who owns a fishing shop and is called back into by his former boss for thirty days, Devon Mills. Despite wanting to stay in retirement he agrees to do so as he also counts Devon as a friend.

Liked Devon to begin in the original show but then he got power hungry and if anybody was not a friend, it was him. As really gave him much to do. Despite Michael not needing backup. As Michael should had really told him off and threaten to quit as he could not come and go like Kitt

Speaking of Kitt Michael would only come back for him. And that he is disappointed to see his "friend" being treated like dirt by the new owner and boss of FLAG Maddock, who is more of a creep as Devon the lesser of the two evils.

But still as Michael is about to walk away, he agrees to fix up Kitt himself. But as police corruption has hit an all time high and only one female good cop on Michael and Kitt's side, they team up for one last ride.

Look for a pre-X-Files Mitch Pileggi as the heavy on the movie. Cheesy acting to say the least. But good to see three of the members of the original KR back.

Knight Rider at least for my lifetime

[mdorta8551 · 10/10 · 26 July 2006]

I bought the first season and plan to buy future seasons of Knight Rider I don't want the series to die out I would like it to live as long as at least I'm alive I will be a lifetime silent fan If I'm fortunate enough to meet David and the remaining cast it would be a highlight in my life. If it wasn't for Knight Rider I probably would have done something stupid Thankyou David and Cast for giving me a way to escape reality for an hour or two you saved my life.

Sincerely, Michele Dorta

Ps I cried when Edward Mulhare died he was one who grew to love Michael like a son and Patricia and Rebecca as daughters. The show has everything, drama,sensitivity, compassion, romance, the cast are like family sometimes I found my answer or a different way of looking at a situation and then I would apply it.

Somber

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 29 December 2021]

I was surprised by the somber tone of the knight rider movie, a lot of heavy concepts and music. The characters were well developed and the storyline was interesting. Though a few key characters were missing, there were a few Easter egg moments for true fans.

My old 2CV is faster than this film and it has only 18hp!

[stimpy532000 · 3/10 · 12 February 2008]

I got this film as an extra bonus with the first season of Knight Rider and boy ol' boy does this films plot play out slowly. First of all most of poor ol' Kitt was sold off to make some dough for Knight Industries and luckily they had his computer still while his body apparently became recycled one of his memory chips ends up in some lady. Skipping ahead little to anything happens and we finally meet the Hoff who lives in the country with a fresh '57 Chevy Bel Air. Now skipping a few pointless scenes even more ahead the two are re-united and without a body KITTs computer is put into Micheals Bel Air and yet even more pointless scenes come and eventually we learn that the police force in the future uses nothing but 2-door Chevy Berettas and shuttle Chevy vans. Micheal and KITT engage into a chase and its hard at times to tell who's chasing who as the villains drive a Police Beretta and at one point either they or another police car pulls out in front of KITT who is unable to stop and causes damage to both it and his Bel Air body (Proof that Bel Airs aren't invincible) and for some reason they don't stop after the accident and hits some metal cans and for some reason the villains police car has disappeared. Speeding ahead to maybe 78% later we see KITT in his new body which only gets one measly chase in and sounds like a futuristic hair dryer. The chase is ended in around 5 minutes and then they set sail for a mall and beat up the main villain. Now I'll give these producers credit for trying to stick to the feel of the original show but it had more action and used a bigger variety of music while this film has only two songs, a slower dramatic song used for seemingly climatic-ish scenes and the fight at the end which is just pure laziness, really its not dramatic seeing the Hoff and some bald guy in a poorly made thug-o-fight. Also there's a more peppy song used for the 1st chase that I actually kinda like. In the end though this film is okay being an extra or real cheap but feels more like a bad drama rather than an action film.