Futureworld [Blu-ray]

A Sorely Underrated Follow-Up
No sequel can be fairly measured against its predecessor, in my opinion. And 'Futureworld' is no exception. While it lacks Michael Crichton's pen - known for deftly interweaving between sci-fi and suspense - 'Futureworld' actually goes so far as to expand upon the original story, which is something few sequels, even good ones, have been able to do. While the production values do seem to indicate the studio was willing to crap this one out as a TV movie if they thought it wouldn't float their boat at the box office, there's still plenty of shock value to enjoy in 'Futureworld', even if its plot does tend to veer now and then into slightly-cartoonish realms...and even then, the film isn't afraid to remind its viewer that it's not to be taken too seriously.
The plot is as follows: it's been a couple of years since the original film's theme-park disaster - a situation not helped by the dirt dug up by investigative reporter Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda, smug and cocky as Han Solo,...

Pretty Fun sci-fi flick
Futureworld is the sequel to the equally campy Westworld. The chemistry between the main characters (played by Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner) is actually above average and probably saves the film from utter failure. However, I enjoyed myself despite the predictability, the absolutely silly premise, the lack of action (there's a sword fight and that's about it) and the anti-climactic ending.

If a sci-fi film doesn't have frequent action sequences and beautiful spaceships it MUST ask some engaging questions, present moral dilemmas, ponder on philosophical themes, etc - Futureworld, on the other hand "thinks" with the "brain" of a rather small and sickly ant. And what an unfortunate last film appearance for Yul Brynner (a campy dream sequence with Blythe Danner)...

Plot (some spoilers due to the simplicity and predictability of the plot)

Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda), a reporter who wrote about the "incident" at Westworld, and TV reporter Tracy Ballard...

I liked this better than Westworld
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When I was a kid I enjoyed Futureworld much more than Westworld, mainly because I liked the coolness of the robots in Futureworld (whereas in Westworld the robots were all too human). Clark in particular left a favorable impression on me.

I think the story in Futureworld is more enjoyable than Westworld, because it revolves around world domination conspiracies. Westworld is just silly paranois about robots, whereas Futureworld is about robots being used by humans to evil purposes. Unfortunately Futureworld is poorly produced as a lot of potentially exciting scenes, like the fighting between the real and fake humans, are never fully developed, leaving the impression that the film was hastily put together.

Still, after 30 years and having been largely forgotten, this film continues to be an enjoyable sci-fi film.

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