Review by Jon Donnis
Sometimes you just want a mindless sci-fi film, with great special effects, aliens, great fight scenes and big explosions. Usually, you would rely on Russian filmmakers for such things, but with Covid and then the Special Operation in The Ukraine, we haven't had much from Russia to enjoy, so in steps China with a mid-budget action extravaganza.
Warriors of Future (previously known as Virtus) is directed by visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai, in his directorial debut, and it pretty much ticks all the boxes I described above.
The year is 2055, as expected the world has been destroyed by pollution and war, military robots and advanced technology has turned the world against itself, along with natural disasters, the worlds atmosphere has become poison. Humans are being born with birth defects, if they even make it that far. With many cities destroyed, what cities remain are covered by "Skynets", air purifying domes that protect those who are lucky enough to live under them.
A city known only as B-16 is one of those protected by a Skynet, but when a meteor crashes through, it brings with it a giant alien plant, that is later called Pandora. As rain falls on the plant it grows, causing destruction. But a side effect of this plant, is that it absorbs the poisoned air, purifying it in the process. If only there was a way to stop the planet, but at the same time change it so it could help save the planet.
That is the basic story. All pretty much all of that is shown in the first 5 minutes, in fact they could have made an entire film out of that concept.
Once we get the layup, the film is very much none stop action, not a lot of explaining is needed, "this is the problem, and this is how we are going to fix it".
We have the ASU (a local military force), a fighter pilot with a sad backstory in Tyler (Louis Koo), his "brother in arms" Johnson Cheng (Sean Lau) the commander of B-16's Air Force, Yau Tai-long (Philip Keung ), aka Skunk, a former member of the B-16 Air Force who was previously dismissed and fell out with Tyler, as well as a few other characters to make up the team. Throw in a baddie, Sean Li, (Nick Cheung) the commander in chief of B-16 and the architect of the Skynet project, who wants to sabotage the plan, so that his Skynet system can remain the only way to purify the air, and you have a pretty decent cast of characters to cheer for and against.
Yes, many of the characters are cliched as hell. There is even a cute child that gets involved. But if you like big robots, giant cockroach like aliens, and a quickly growing killer plant, then this might be the film for you.
We even have hero deaths, in fact the only things that were missing was a love story and a dog surviving against all odds.
This is sci-fi action adventure at its craziest. The plot really doesn't matter too much, this is just about sitting back and watching 90 minutes of crazy. And I love that.
The Good
Excellent visual effects. Great fight scenes. A satisfying ending, and a fun story.
The Bad
The film is lacking slightly in character development, and as mentioned things are a bit silly.
Overall
This is one of those films you will either love or hate. If you are looking for deep storytelling, nuances characters and meaningful developments, you will be sorely disappointed.
If, however, you want mindless action, aliens, robots and big explosions, then this is the film for you.
Maybe this film caught me on a good day, but I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I just don't want to think too much. I just want to enjoy the spectacle.
I score Warriors of Future (2022) a super fun 8/10
Out now on Netflix at
