Starring - Billy Blanks (The Last Boy Scout, Back in Action), Bolo Yeung (Bloodsport, Double Impact), and Jalal Merhi (Tiger Claws, The Circuit)
Release Date - 1993
Genre - Action/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "The year is 2020. He's mostly human, and totally invincible... until now."
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)
Rating (out of 5):
I lived through the video age and have fond memories of checking out all the amazing artwork for the different VHS releases at my locally owned video store, Dewey's Video. I was born in the mid-80s and lived through the 90s so I was a product of the video store and 90s television. The 90s was a hotbed for infomercials that have become a part of pop culture history. Many my age can remember Miss Cleo, Pure Moods, and lastly, Tae Bo. Tae Bo was a popular work out meets martial arts routine created by it's host Billy Blanks. Aside from these commercials, I knew nothing of Billy Blanks until a few years later when I spotted him on the cover of a direct to video action flick. I was fucking floored and quickly snagged the DVD of it. When I was able to check it out I was very unimpressed by it. I turned my back on the film and Blanks until recently when Vinegar Syndrome started releasing several of his films on blu. I fucking love Vin Syn so it was a matter of time before I snagged copies of these films for my collection. I've been sitting on their release of TC 2000 for several months now and decided to finally check out as the beginning of my Billy Blanks marathon.
The film is set in a future where the rich and important have moved underground while the poor, less fortunate, and undesirables are forced to live above ground. The film follows partners who are officers in the underground but when one of them is murdered the other becomes the prime suspect. He flees to the surface to look for clues as to why he was set up while his deceased partner is turned into a crime fighting machine.
When I originally ordered this one and was checking out the synopsis I was under the impression that Blanks was starring in a Robocop clone where he would be an unstoppable cyborg like character but that is far from the truth. The film does have a touch of Robocop but its nothing like the artwork paints. The acting in this one is exactly what you would expect from an early 90s direct to video action flick. Blanks is the biggest ham I've ever seen on screen. His cliched one liners and emotionless stare is unintentionally funny but not a negative. The supporting cast is more of the same. The cast really tries but the flat writing and generic characters makes this one easy to forget and often difficult to finish. The story for this one is like I said earlier. It's a touch of Robocop with some comparisons to Demolition Man which was released the same year. The film follows a society that has moved underground while those living in squalor and filth are forced to live on the surface. This is the exact opposite of Demolition Man but the point remains the same. We then have the character that dies and is brought back as more machine than human. Though it's not Blanks character like the artwork portrays it's still a part of the story. You then fill the film with lots of choreographed fights scenes that make no sense then you have TC 2000. It's not very imaginative but does fit right at home with the other direct to video sci-fi action flicks. Finally, the film has a little blood but they are poorly done and don't really work. This film does not have a body count or memorable deaths which is a real travesty. Overall, TC 2000 is an interesting concept but the execution is way off. I wanted to love it, especially since Vin Syn was behind the release, but it was no fun at all. Skip it.
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