Warriors of Future (2022)

 

                “Warriors of Future” is a Hong Kong film.  Apparently, “the” is not allowed in their titles.  It’s alternate title is “Virtus”.  It was directed by Ng Yuen-fai.  It was his debut.  Previously, he was known as a visual effects expert.  The movie took several years to develop and film.  The set, which imagines a post-apocalyptic Hong Kong, took two months to construct.  The movie has done well at the box office, although it may not turn a profit.

                The year is 2055.  The world has been devastated by armies of military robots.  Mother nature has played a role with global warming and toxic pollution.  Many babies have been born with birth defects.  Humans have tried to make the world more livable by constructing domes over major cities, like Hong Kong.  Before Hong Kong’s can be finished, an alien plant called Pandora has come to Earth.  It is spreading through the city and just one more rainstorm will result in complete coverage of the city.  Ironically, Pandora purifies the air.  If only it can be stopped from spreading, but still be there to clean the air.  Enter scientists with a “gene bullet” that will accomplish this if it can injected into the pistil.  The virus will halt the growth of Pandora, but it will continue its air-cleansing.  The gene bullet has to be injected soon because a rainstorm is on the way.  A special forces team is assigned the suicide mission.  The ingress meets resistance from the plant and only Tyler (Louis Koo) and Johnson (Sean Lau) survive to attempt to reach the pistil. They hook up with an ex-elite named Skunk (Philip Keung).  He is in need of redemption.  The clock is ticking because the head of Skynet is going to nuke the city before the rain starts.  This will kill 160,000 people.  It’s not bad enough that the trio has to battle monsters that protect Pandora, but they also have run a gauntlet of robots sent to stop them from reaching their destination.  Along the way, they pick up an orphan girl. 

                Netflix bought distribution rights and it is streaming the film.  I ran across it on my list of 2022 war movies.  I did not have high hopes for it considering its botched title.  As you can tell by the plot summary, it doesn’t break any new ground.  Cliches and stereotypes abound.  The race to save mankind with the help of science.  The obstacles a suicide squad must overcome.  The evil industrialist trying to foil the mission.  Besides the industrialist, we get the kid in danger (like Newt from “Aliens”) and the ex-soldier down on his luck.  The central four characters are tropes, but the actors are good and the characters are appealing.  You’ve seen it all before, but not with these visuals.  The CGI is amazing.  Not only do you get “Alien” style monsters, but killer robots.  The movie kicks ass!  At one point, Tyler and Johnson don robot suits that allow them to parkour.  These suits were what “Starship Troopers” needed to replicate the suits in the book. The action is almost nonstop and there are few moments to catch your breath.  The future is bright for sci-fi war movies. When is this technology going to reach WWII planes and tanks?

GRADE =  B+