I am a big fan of post-apocalyptic movies like Cyborg, Steel Dawn and the Mad Max franchise. The latest Future World is one of those that kind of came out of nowhere and features a great cast including James Franco, Suki Waterhouse, Milla Jovovich, Snoop Dog, Lucy Liu, Method Man, and Rumer Willis, but does it offer up all the cool visuals expected of this genre or will it fall like society in its own story?

 

Future World follows a desert oasis, where a queen lays dying as her son Prince travels across barren waste lands to find a near-mythical medicine to save her life. After evading violent raiders on motorbikes led by the Warlord and his enforcer, Prince meets Ash, the Warlord's robot sex companion-assassin who's in search of her own soul. As Prince is captured by the Druglord, the Warlord's forces roar in - and Prince fights to save the remnants of humanity. This latest feature staring Franco also has him sharing directing duties with Bruce Thierry Cheung. With such a great cast you would think this movie would knock it out of the park, but sadly it stumbles more than it stands. The ideas here harkened back to those classic cult favorites of the 80s and 90s, but the execution is all over the place and never really feels like it works.

 

Franco and Jovovich both playing it way over the top and fun to watch, but the rest of the cast seem a bit hit and miss. When they are on screen the scenes get a bit more interesting while somehow still offering up very little content. The story is simple, but still all over the place at times feeling more like they just slapped some scene ideas together instead of a coherent movie. I cannot lie though the Road Warrior vibe to it all kept me interested until the end and there are some clear looks to it that borrowed from that world. The costuming throughout actually works great but is sadly shoved into a movie that does not.

 

This is one of those movies that will no doubt find someone who loves it and the trailers were actually interesting, but the film itself falls short to what it could have been with a bit more structure and development. Decide for yourself and check out Future World available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.