Review of Future World (2018) by Julian K — 16 Sep 2018

Future World: 6 out of 10: In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a young man (Jeffrey Wahlberg) seeks a cure for his mother (Lucy Liu) and leaves his protected oasis to travel into the desert which is being terrorized by a gang leader (James Franco) and his sex robot (Suki Waterhouse).

The Good: There is some bad acting in this movie (detailed below) but the reason to watch this is simply two words. Milla Jovovich. She simply steals the entire film and is a joy to watch. Alas, she doesn't show up for the first two thirds or so. Her character is simply so refreshing after all the drudgery that precedes her. She seems to realize exactly what kind of film this his and is chewing scenery in full William Shatner mode.

Also props to Snoop Dog of all people. Yes, he is playing a pimp which is a bit on the nose. But like Milla above he takes full advantage of the limited screen time given.

The Bad: Who gives the worst performance? Good lord what competition. Lucy Lui plays a lady basically in a coma so she gets a pass even though she seems awful. In a regular film Suki Waterhouse as the emotionless sex robot would take first prize but in her defense, her character is written all over the place and the movie doesn't follow its own in-universe rules. So I am going to give her a pass. James Franco plays a murdering psychotic rapist. In other words, he is basically playing himself with slightly worse teeth and a funny hat. Pass.

No our winner and grand champion is, unfortunately, our lead character the dull as dishwater Jeffrey Wahlberg who sucks the energy out of every scene he is in. And he is in all of them. Not so much as a fish out of water straight guy, but more a charisma black hole. Jeffery goes from scene to scene looking like a particularly dimwitted twelve-year-old.

Why would Franco hire him? Oh, he is Mark Wahlberg's nephew. There is so little talent in the Wahlberg family that clearly diluting it is ill-advised.

The Ugly: Nobody drinks water. I drink a liter of water mowing the lawn (Florida) and yet here is a character who hasn't had a drink in days dragging a four hundred pound weight across an endless desert while sweating profusely and yet he has no water.

In fact, the movie (as noted above) has real problems with its in-universe rules. Suki Waterhouse's sex robot is supposed to be controlled by very silly looking a remote control. Sometimes it works, sometimes she has free will, and sometimes she is just wandering around like rogue Roomba.

In Conclusion: The movie is more Cherry 2000 than Mad Max. For one thing, Mad Max did not have sex robots. There is also a healthy amount of sixties lets gets some friends together, do a lot of drugs and film in the desert about this film. Franco is also clearly channeling the eighties Full Moon post-apocalyptic desert movies with his Salton Sea locations and simple hero's journey across the wasteland.

Compared to sixties desert drug movies and Full Moon films this effort is actually a little above average. Milla saves the movie in many ways but it takes to long to get to her and before you know it we are back to Wahlberg sucking the fun out of the film again.