Future World is just a poorly made copy of the much superior Mad Max: Fury Road, and even when accounting for a lesser budget, still was pretty bad which is unfortunate considering the cast, which were rather wasted (both in terms of talent and alcohol).
Future World
(2018)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Adventure
Lionsgate | R – 88 min. – $21.99 | July 10, 2018
Date Published: 07/01/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 1.0/5 |
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“I’m the fucking jefe!” Plot Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic world where water and gasoline have long dried up – and apparently people need neither to survive (no one is ever seen refueling or drinking H20 – a prince (JEFFREY WAHLBERG) from the Oasis (one of the last known safe havens) must venture out to find medicine for his mother and ailing Queen (LUCY LIU). But along the way, he gets mixed up with a warlord (JAMES FRANCO) and his robot Ash (SUKI WATERHOUSE), which leads to a daring journey through the desolate wastelands.
Review: There are some days I wonder what I’m doing with my life. This is one of those days following yet another Grindstone Entertainment produced movie, Future World, a duller and lamer copy of Mad Max: Fury Road with a 5% mixture of Terminator thrown in for good measure. Going in, I fully expected this to be a bad movie but though, at least based on the trailer, maybe a bit of fun with an all-out maybe bizarre performance from the unpredictable James Franco, who happened to co-direct this. And honestly, things started off on a high note with Franco going over-the-top in his villainous role. Sadly, that feeling is all but dashed when it’s realized that he’s not the main character and when all was said and done, probably had about 20-minutes of screen time (albeit in a film that, sans credits, was about 84-minutes). Outside of Franco, though, none of the other cast really impresses: Milla Jovovich comes the closest to Franco for being bat-shit crazy and competes with the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, but even her appearance, in the third act, doesn’t amount to much; Suki Waterhouse is talented but playing this conflicted robot didn’t do much, although her killer sexy catwalk-like was a hoot; Jeffrey Wahlberg — nephew to Mark Wahlberg — actually played the main character but was neither impressive nor disappointing; and Lucy Liu had the look of despair, not for portraying a dying character but perhaps for herself and how she ended up in DTV territory…
I suppose the best I can say about Future World is for fans of watching people ride on motorbikes back and forth in the desert because little else really happens as any plot is rather thin and everything else is rather dull and uninspiring with my only though being a desire to re-watch Mad Max: Fury Road again, perhaps the chrome version… But I digress. There was one okay sequence when Ash saves the prince, the dune buggy flips over and the pair escape, darting through crevices in the desert, avoiding their pursuers; that part actually wasn’t half bad but only comprises about 5-10 minutes of the movie. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.25/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Behind-the-Scenes (12:39; HD) is a featurette with interview by Co-Director/Actor James Franco intercut with scenes from the film. Really a waste of time, seems like most of it was just footage from the film. Trailer (2:09; HD) Previews – The Show, Spinning Man, Bent, Extortion, Inconceivable |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| Future World motorbikes onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. As you might suspect, taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, colors are generally toned down for more the natural spectrum, though there are a few pops like when the prince and his companions go to a strip club which has neon lights. On the downside, I did notice many instances of banding in several transition scenes. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is pretty low key, which is surprising for the kind of movie this is, but still the dialogue coming through the center speaker was relatively clear and there was some ambient noises coming from the rear channels and the fronts did output some modest depth for the central action. This is not an outstanding lossless track or anything but more than adequate. |
OVERALL – 1.25/5 |
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Overall, Future World is just a poorly made copy of the much superior Mad Max: Fury Road, and even when accounting for a lesser budget, still was pretty bad which is unfortunate considering the cast, which were rather wasted (both in terms of talent and alcohol). The Blu-ray release has passable audio/video transfers but lacks any subtenant features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.