3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Warriors of Future

2022,  Yuen Fai Ng (debut for a known visual effects specialist) -- Netflix

Surprisingly, I didn't dislike this as much as I thought I would. Why would I watch it, if I suspected I would not like it? For the same reasons I watched Shanghai Fortress or The Wandering Earth. And those reasons are not entirely clear to me but that I really enjoy gonzo over-the-top scifi, and the Chinese seem to be embracing the idea of late. Alas, they also seem to be embracing the mid to late 90s aesthetic of what scifi was trying to be: big, bombastic and kind of stupid.

Like these previous movies, this one begins as if it was the second movie. It is The Future, or to use the irritatingly bad grammar of the movie's english title, "It is future." The world is shite; environmental catastrophe & endless robot augmented warfare has reduced us to hiding under big domes called "Skynets". If you are worried about robots doing you harm, I suggest a different name for your refuges. Anywayz, this is just the setting of the movie, as the premise is based around a meteor crashing to Earth bringing with it an evil plant they call Pandora. While Pandora causes great destruction, it also cleanses the air around it. Dilemma!! Also, Pandora grows when it rains.

The military's science department has developed a "gene bullet" that can beneficially alter Pandora, and they have to do so before a big BIG rain storm comes along which will grow the plant beyond the area of the city they have already abandoned. If they don't deploy the bullet before the rainstorm, they will be forced to blow up the plant with a nuke, which will also kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. Dillema!!

Just as the mission is about to succeed, their military commander, who has a large stake in the Skynets, sabotages it by turning his robots against his own soldiers. There is also a hint that he is mostly robot himself, but that never really plays out. Anywayz, a couple of brave heroes decide to defy orders and go into the ruined/abandoned city to find the bullet and deploy it, before the rain, before the big bomb.

Despite this familiar mega-melodramatic setup, the way the movie plays out is not all that bad. Sure, its obvious they are once again ripping off as many other scifi movies as they can, but even the slightly wonky CG effects are gripping and well-done. Draped in battle armour, that they keep on opening the visors of, our tortured heroes fight plant tentacles, big bugs, spider bots (walking tanks), and the ruins themselves until they finally defeat Pandora AND reveal their commander as a Bad Guy.

Its exciting, bombastic and yeah, kind of stupid but still, rather enjoyable.