Review of Futureworld (1976) by Ola G — 28 May 2013

Two years after the Westworld tragedy, the Delos corporation owners have reopened the park following $1.5 billion in safety improvements. For publicity purposes, newspaper reporter Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda) and TV reporter Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner) are invited to review the park. Just before the junket is announced, Browning arranges to meet with a Delos employee who promises he has dirt on the corporation. During the meeting, the tipster is shot in the back and dies after giving Browning an envelope. At the resort, guests choose from a range of theme parks: Medievalworld, Romanworld, and Futureworld (Westworld is abandoned). Browning and Ballard choose Futureworld, which simulates an orbiting space station. Robots are available for sex as well as amusements like boxing, where the.

Humans control robot boxers. They are guided through the resort by Dr. Duffy, who shows them the marvels of Delos, demonstrating that all the problems have been fixed. Chuck Browning is still not convinced that Delos has cleaned up its act. What Chuck and Tracy discover is beyond any of their imaginations...

My oh my... where should I start.. Let me first of all say that the foundation and idea of "Futureworld" is there. A corporation that replaces world leaders with clones to be able to use them to shape global opinons to their own advantages is of course a scary and intriguing futuristic point of view. The movie is based on what happend after the Westworld malfunction and the development of the "new" theme park. However, what "Westworld" had in vibe, action and excitement lacks in "Futureworld". The story tries to intertwine mystery, sci-fi and thriller elements with a satirical opinion, but succeeds only with the latter part. The dodgy B-Movie set up has tainted everything including a very poor acting achievement from predominantly Peter Fonda. He is plain awful. The campy dream sequence with Yul Brunner´s The Gunslinger must have made him turn in his grave as this was his final film. Richard Eder panned the film in The New York Times, quoting Ballard's line from the movie, "This is about as exciting as a visit to the water works." Coining his own variation on the phrase, Eder also claimed the film is "as much fun as running barefoot on Astroturf". He found the film entirely predictable and devoid of much dramatic tension. Writing that Danner and Fonda have "absolutely nothing to do" in the film, he concludes that "starring in Futureworld must be the actor's equivalent of going on welfare." Futureworld was actually the first major feature film to use 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI). CGI was used for an animated hand and face. This does unfortunately not help the movie to sink like the Titanic..