Futureworld

The bots are back in the official "unofficial" sequel to Westworld. Actually, the makers, American International Pictures, was bought up by Filmways, which was bought up by Orion Pictures, which was bought up by MGM, who made Westworld.

Overview: The idea of making a (crappy) sequel to a popular movie isn't exactly new, as Futureworld will show. As the now "official" sequel to Westworld, Futureworld tried to take the storyline into a new (some would say "misguided") direction by answering the big unanswered question: Why did the robots suddenly turn on the human guests of Delos?

I managed to catch this on Reelz a few weeks back. I've been looking for a DVD for some time as well, but this rare film is... well... rare. I resorted to torrenting it to give you this review. I'll keep on searching for it.

The Story: Reporter Chuck Browning (Fonda), who first reported the Westworld fiasco, gets a phone call from a person who says he has important information. When they meet, the contact dies, but uses his last breath to say why he needed to contact Browning... "Delos."

The Delos Amusement Park is now set to reopen after two years and some $1 billion in "improvements", and want Browning and fellow reporter Tracy Ballard (Danner) to visit the park and report on the improvements to show that it is now safe. Among the improvements made are the abandonment of Westworld in favor of the space adventure "Future world." Browning soon discovers that the park has a more sinister operation behind it than just entertainment.

Another moment in cinematic history: just as Westworld was the first to use 2D CGI, Futureworld is the first to use 3D CGI. The hand on the monitor is the first example.

Ballard gets to try out a brain-wave scanner. This is where we see Yul Brenner in his last movie role before his death in 1985. Meanwhile, Browning is watching it all through a scanner.

An unanswered question is answered. And now, the answer to the million dollar question: why did the robots go screwloose and kill everyone in Delos?

Somehow, the robots were learning through their contact with the guests, and what they learn is that humans are a threat not only to them (the robots), but to the the planet as a whole:

"The human being is a very unstable, irrational, violent animal. All our probability studies indicate that, if left alone, you will destroy much of this planet before the end of the decade. We at Delos are determined to see that doesn't happen. We don't intend to be destroyed by your mistakes."

To stop the humans, the robots came up with a plan:

• Invite the world's "elite"... the rich, the famous, the powerful and influential... to visit Delos park.
• Drug the guest's meals and measure and sample their inert bodies.
• Create clone "duplicates".
• Program the duplicates to act on behalf of Delos.
• Have the duplicates kill the guests.
• Send the duplicates out into the world to work on behalf of Delos.
• ?????
• WORLD DOMINATION! (Why not? They already run Delos.)

But, is it cyberpunk? Like Westworld, Futureworld was made before anyone ever coined the word, so they could not have made this cyberpunk... at least not on purpose. The visuals aren't there (even the access tunnels are brighter and cleaner than what one would expect), there are no hackers or underground resistors, and there's no word on the state of the world in the movie other than the above mentioned probability studies. The added themes of corporate control (Delos's plan) and the robots running the show do push Futureworld closer to being cyberpunk, but not totally into that arena.

Conclusion. Since its release, Futureworld has had a rather hard-knocked life of being constantly panned by critics (Rotten Tomatoes gives it only a 33% "Rotten" rating), some see it as a worthy sequel to Westworld. At least, it was worthy enough to attempt a television series, Beyond Westworld. I sort of liked it, but you may feel differently, depending on how you see "unofficial" sequels.

Spring must be around the corner. I can hear the birds... flipping.