Filmmaker Chris Paine asked a simple question in his 2006 documentary about electric cars, “Who killed them?”
As Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote, it was a “partisan documentary: informative, clear-eyed and mad as hell.”
Debuting in theaters across the nation (and soon in Houston), Paine’s sequel, “Revenge of the Electric Car”, questions car executives and entrepreneurs about the reality of the electric car.
And the film isn’t short of big name executives.
General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz is among the executives who weigh in about the future of gasoline-powered cars and whether electric cars will be the new reality. Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn are also part of the film.
The movie revolves around the race to cash in on the electric car movement. With stubbornly high gas prices, more Americans are searching for cheaper alternatives at the pump, and big companies, such as GM and Nissan, are trying to answer the call.
As Burr notes in his movie review, the drama of the film is largely built around the companies dealing with the financial uncertainty in 2008.
Musk’s Tesla flounders for lack of funding; arson destroys Rev. Gadget’s workshop; Bob Lutz gets edged toward retirement.
Burr gave the film two and half stars.
If you are interested, it’s playing in Houston on Nov. 11 at the Alamo Theater.
And if you didn’t see the first movie, here is that trailer too.
