Warriors of Future is a Hong Kong sci-fi film, released on Netflix. It is directed by Yuen Fai Ng and written by Ho-Leung Lau, Chi-Leung Law, and Tin Shu Mak. Louis Koo and Jacqueline Liu are the producers of the show. With a runtime of 1 hour and 41 minutes, the film is already released in August in the native country and is now available for streaming globally.
The main cast of the film includes Louis Koo as Tai Loi, Ching Wan Lau as Cheng Chung-Sang, Carina Lau as Tam Bing, and Philip Keung as Skunk. The rest of the cast in supporting roles include Xiaoxia Cheng, Nick Cheung, Ho-Leung Lau, Tin Shu Mak, Kwan-Ho Tse, Guopeng Wan and Qian Wu.
-Warriors of Future Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
Earth has been ravaged by pollution and disaster, and a fast-growing alien vine has arrived to cause more lethal devastation. A combat squad swings into action, racing against time to try and prevent an apocalypse — that’s how the world looks in this science fiction drama.
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In the year 2055 on an environmentally-damaged and war-torn Earth, a meteorite strikes a futuristic Hong Kong, now known as the B-16 district. A giant alien plant, named Pandora, has rapidly grown out from the rubble, causing devastation but also purifying the air. Scientists have devised a solution to alter the genetic makeup of Pandora to stop its growth and help keep purifying the air.
But the mission to reach the base of the alien plant is more like a suicide squad, from the uncertainty of what they will find out there to other bigger forces, which are trying to make them fail at any cost. The plant grows more and more with the water and the upcoming storm is their deadline to save the population of B-16 district.
At first, when I heard about Pandora, all I could think about was Avatar and it is somewhat of a new concept that the alien species is deadly yet restoring balance by purifying the air. Apart from that, the film is a mix and match of various plotlines from popular sci-fi and superhero films.
Considering it as one of the first attempts at majorly CGI-based sci-fi, one can overlook some of the minor issues in the visuals. But the story shouldn’t be compromised. There are a few key plots but nothing substantial, that would be the leading factor in the story or are ever memorable. The backstory of the main character Tai Loi and his daughter is very briefly explored and leaves many details in question.
Similarly, the friendship between the trio – Tai Loi, Cheng Chung-Sang and Skunk is fun to watch but again, their backstory shows a lot of details, which go unanswered. We know something tragic happened between them but without expanding on it, it remains on the surface level and we aren’t able to connect with their emotions.
One of the biggest plotholes is the appearance of the little girl at an abandoned hospital. They are shown going into the restricted area where nobody lives now, then how is the girl present there and that too alive, after all this time? If it was just redemption for Louis Koo’s character then the film could have done away with it and rather focused on mending his friendships.
Summing Up: Warriors of Future
Honestly, it is a decent film that could be your one-time watch, if you are a fan of the lead characters in the film. In terms of CGI, it is quite impressive in places but in the fight sequences, it’s a blink-and-miss kind of situation. The actions are pretty quick and often indistinguishable to realise who is hitting whom. Overall, it has all the elements of a sci-fi genre film with a bit of emotion here & there.
Warriors of Future is available for streaming on Netflix.
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