I’ve been on a Terminator kick, layely. Billy Blanks might be best known for inventing Tae-Bo – the late 90’s cardio craze that blended Tae Kwon Do and boxing – but rewind to the early 90s and you’ll find him roundhouse-kicking his way through a solid run of straight-to-video action flicks. TC 2000 isn’t the crown jewel of his filmography, but it’s another great time capsule of that glorious low-budget cyborg wave that filled the shelves of every video store.
Blanks had legit martial arts cred and a screen presence that made him a go-to hero for the era, including two tag-team outings with fellow icon Roddy Piper. Here, he’s joined by Bobbie Phillips and Bolo Yeung, adding that extra touch of 90s B-movie magic.
It’s got some remarkably deft directing, and the film makes the most of its pocket-change budget, but expect plenty of smoke machines, boiler room sets and laser-beams, hip techno-futurist nonsense – and that’s exactly what we came for.
– Pop