Hong Kong actor Louis Koo loves science fiction and collects “Stars War” merchandise so it is no surprise that he would produce a sci-fi film financed by his own company “One Cool Film Production”. Although it would take him a few years to finish his expensive personal project, it eventually paid off big time to the tune of over HK$80 Million and became the highest grossing domestic film at the local box office. Furthermore it went worldwide due to it being streamed on Netflix.
Visual effect artist Ng Yuen Fai's directional debut takes the viewers to the year 2055 in which the world is in pretty bad shape because of climate change and wars, and the polluted atmosphere is barely livable. Moreover, domes known as “Skynets” now cover the cities so their inhabitants can breathe and survive. One day, a meteor crashes into B-16, a district of futuristic Hong Kong and the alien plant it carries along takes roots and flourishes due the local heavy rainfall. Nonetheless, nicknamed by the scientists as “Pandora”, this fast growing plant actually helps to purify the air but on the other hand, it is also destroying the city with its huge expending brunches.
In order to contain Pandora but not to destroy it altogether, head scientist Dr. Chan from ASU, a local military force, has developed some “gene bullets” which when fired into its pistil will release a virus that can control its growth. Promptly, led by ace pilot Tyler (Louis Koo), a group of combat warriors from ASU soon find themselves engaged in a suicide mission to save the world. Meanwhile Sean Li, the Chief Commander of the ASU, who had invested heavily in the Skynets business, secretly sends out military robots to sabotage the mission. Furthermore, with the approaching of the two huge rainstorms that will boost Pandora's growth, Tyler and his team sure have a near impossible job to finish.
Being trained in generating special effects for films, Ng has no problem creating the characters and the world as seen in the heavily CGI visuals of this production and he did a fantastic job in those regards. His vision of the future Hong Kong looks lived-in with plenty of amazing details, as the suited combat soldiers, robots and creatures are all impressively well designed. Unfortunately, his action sequences between the military robots and armed heavy machines seem lacking in real impact; in general they look rather tinny and too light. Overall, the visuals, though well-conceived and obviously borrowed from other sci-fi outings like “Ghost in the Shell”, “Transformers”, “Iron Man” and so on offer nothing new here. At times it is like watching the highlights of an action-packed video game. The editing style of the action is a combination of the breakneck speed scenario, followed by slow motion and the occasional freeze frame variety.
The performances from actors like Louis Koo, Sean Lau Ching Wan and Carina Lau are fairly decent but nothing really stands out. Philip Keung on the other hand seems to be having more fun as a comic relief playing the fall from grace rogue warrior, “Skunk”. Nevertheless, the friendship and interchanges between these three provide the much needed human moments which help to break away from the intensive and CGI heavy nature of the film. Elsewhere, a very dull and laid back Nick Cheung turns up as the Chief Commander, Sean Li. Here he portrays a character so emotionless and stiff that they could have used a dummy or even have him as a CGI instead. That goes for Carina too; she doesn't really add much to the story, maybe they need a soft feminist touch to break away from the male oriented nature of the film.
With a thin plot mainly to justify the almost uninterrupted CGI action that follows, “Warriors of Future” is a mixed bag of amazing strong visual effects, intense action set pieces with frustrating and unoriginal moments. Nonetheless, credit must go to the filmmakers for creating such a revolutionary visual approach and theme for a Hong Kong production and besides, it is cheerful and highly entertaining.
