Futureworld

Starring: Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, Yul Brynner, John P. Ryan, Stuart Margolin
Directed by: Richard T. Heffron
Rating: PG
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
1976

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two journalists (Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner) travel to the newly reopened Futureworld but soon stumble upon a conspiracy with far-reaching consequences.

Review:
Tim: Futureworld is clearly an inferior sequel to Westworld. It picks up a few years after the events of the first movie and pretty much starts disappointing immediately after that. I don't want to give the impression that this is a terrible movie- it's not. It is, however, a surprisingly dull one. I never felt any kind of attachment to anything happening on screen. The whole movie was bafflingly boring. That's what sinks this film. You can't have a futuristic thriller that is missing almost all the thrills.

I suppose the choice of setting this film in Futureworld had some advantages. It broadens the scope of Delos- their operation is much bigger than just Westworld. The idea of exploring another park was a solid one. Unfortunately, the budget wasn't big enough to bring any sense of scope or awe to Futureworld. What's so exciting about anything depicted here? The skiing on Mars was okay, but the effect was easily accomplished. It's shocking how little we truly get to explore Futureworld. There's some mildly entertaining futuristic games, but this was a glaring misstep in the film.

One of the redeeming qualities of the film is that it does a solid job casting its two leads. I enjoyed both Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner. Even when they had ridiculous lines to utter, they brought some class to this film. I thought they exhibited a decent amount of chemistry and I found some enjoyment in watching them together. Without strong actors like Fonda and Danner, this movie could have been unwatchable. I do think it's critical to point out how essential they were to this film. Even while the movie all around them was dull as anything, they were entertaining. I feel like I enjoyed this movie more than some people and it's because I derived real pleasure from watching these two together. They somehow made the boring movie seem less bad. The distraction their performances creates was a lifesaver for the film.

Some of the visual effects weren't all bad. The whole idea of robots being so lifelike as to evade detection is a cool idea and the movie gave us a few nice scenes displaying that. That might not seem like much, but it does help. The story itself was mostly boring, but I did enjoy some of the mystery elements as our protagonists work to uncover the plot at the heart of the film. I did laugh out loud at the awful line, "This is about as exciting as a visit to the water works," which pretty much sums up the entire film. I laughed out loud when I heard that line, as it perfectly reflected the failures of this film.

Maybe I should have hated Futureworld. It didn't do enough to create that strong of an emotion in me. I was fairly bored by the story, but it was somewhat interesting to revisit the world established in the original film. Still, it's fairly clear that this was a failure of a sequel.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Westworld