TC 2000 is a 1993 science fiction action film[1] written and directed by T. J. Scott and starring Billy Blanks, Jalal Merhi, Bolo Yeung, Bobbie Phillips and Matthias Hues.
Its plot takes place in a dystopian future, where an elite cop (Blanks) tries to reconnect with a fallen comrade (Phillips) turned into a cyborg by the government, while trying to protect his underground city from the surface rebels whose leader (Merhi) is responsible for her death.
Jason Storm is part of an elite security force called the Tracker-Communicators who protect the city against the surface world survivors who could not afford to escape.
After a raid by starving surface world survivors breaches the city's force field, Zoey comes to believe they have inside help.
Suspecting that the Controller seeks the biological weapons to take over the surface world, Storm and Sumai recruit fighters who are willing to stand up to Picasso.
[5] The film's name, as well as the logo of its titular police unit and pieces of the anti-riot gear they wear, are promotional nods to a real-life line of martial arts sparring accessories, the TC 2000 series.
The "Tracker Communicator" moniker used in storyline is a backronym chosen to fit the brand's initials (in reality the letters TC stand for Fremont, California-based manufacturer Tiger Claw).
[4] Merhi suffered the brunt of it and lost around 15 minutes of screen time, which included some fighting as well as character moments that reflected his desire for a more dramatic film.
[15][16] TC 2000 was re-issued on a limited edition Blu-ray on November 26, 2021, as part of a series of Merhi releases from film preservationists Vinegar Syndrome, to which the producer has personally contributed.
Rob Salem of The Toronto Star wrote that "TC 2000 is corny, clumsy, convoluted, cliched and many other adjectives that do not begin with the letter 'c'.
He noted that "[a]s a filmmaker, Merhi is nothing but not economical" as most of the film takes place inside "a big concrete basement", but "the money he's saved on sets and production values he's wisely spent on casting, with several familiar faces".
[7] Mike Mayo of The Roanoke Times was along the same lines, commenting: "TC 2000 probably had half the budget of Nemesis [whose video was released concurrently in the U.S.] and it's not particularly well made".
He compared the film a mix of Escape from New York and Soylent Green, but found that "a combination of martial arts and science-fiction falls flat" while "[Scott's] story is predicated upon the 'How many blows you take?'
[21] Drew Wheeler of Billboard criticized the film's generic setting, dubbing it "UnOriginalWorld", and "this story's uncannny resemblance to so many other movies", concluding that "[o]nly martial-arts or SF die-hards [...] will have no complaint".