Futureworld (1976)

You won't be disappointed!

How sad is this?

Admirable film.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Overlong, unimaginative, boring sequel to Westworld has reporters Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner visiting the re-opened Delos amusement park to see if the new management has gotten all the murder out of its androids. Turns out they haven't. A sequel that didn't need to be made with an embarrassing role for Blythe Danner. Despite this being made in the 1970s, feminist revolution and all that, she spends the entirety of the movie imitating Noel Neill. Only there's no Superman to save her, just 'king of the wimps' Peter Fonda. She also has a bizarre sex dream about Yul Brynner. Because why not, I guess? That's his sole contribution to this movie, by the way. So if you're a fan of Westworld, don't be fooled into trying this one out thinking at least it's got Brynner going for it. Because he's in it for maybe three minutes.

Futureworld is the sequel to Michael Crichton's 1973 Westworld, which is the better of the two film by a considerable degree. That said, Futureworld is a good film in itself, if the first half is a little slow(especially for modern viewers, I'm sure). Chuck Browning(Peter Fonda), and Tracey Ballard(Blythe Danner) are investigative reporters who get a tip that something seriously amiss at Futureworld, their source being killed before he can fully deliver his goods to them.Taking a "vacation" there themselves, the two enjoy some of the park's attractions while investigating, including holographic chess, as well as a device Danner uses which is able to record one's dream. This is where Yul Brynner's Gunfighter from the Westworld shows up in Tracey's dream in a silent cameo although he is given some top billing.In time, the duo learns that the DELOS Corporation is replacing various important figures with duplicates, and eliminating the human originals, not overly original even in 1976. Star Trek had used the plot some years before for example, but the idea is well-handled. These duplicates would appear to be closer to genuine androids than more-simple robots with biological elements in their design.I did find the handguns used unusual, as they seem to fire something closer to an "energy bullet) than normal bullets.Of course, our pair finally escapes, and reveals this plot at the end.I wouldn't call Futureworld one of the best 1970s science fiction films, but it is certainly a good one which raises some other points I haven't mentioned here, and issues as well. Anybody who enjoys sci-fi films form the 1970s will like this one, although I agree that Peter Fonda was often rather bland in his earlier films.

Futureworld (1976) *** (out of 4) Sequel to WESTWORLD picks up a couple years after the events in that film as Delos plans on opening Futureworld. A pair of reporters (Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner) are invited into the new theme park but soon they discover that the owners have plans to replace various government officials with lookalikes. FUTUREWORLD doesn't quite reach the levels of the first film but I really give the filmmakers credit for doing something different with the story instead of just delivering a rehash of the first film. With that said, I think the film takes way too long for this story to take place as it really doesn't start to happen until around the 70-minute mark or so and so much of that early running time has us sitting there just waiting for something to eventually take off. It seems that the first half of the film spends a bit too much time with the reporters looking at how good everything in the place is and it just takes too long to get going. I will say that many of the early scenes in the picture are extremely good and especially the stuff dealing with people using the theme park. The jokes about robots that can handle sex were good and I thought there was some other nice humor as well. The performances were also really good with both Fonda and Danner turning in nice work and having some good chemistry together. Yul Brynner is basically here as a cameo but it was still nice seeing the gunslinger again. FUTUREWORLD runs a tad bit too long but the special effects are good and there are several good ideas throughout it.

This is the limp and unsatisfying sequel to WESTWORLD, which had been author/director Michael Crichton's marvelous mix of science fiction and western genres, and is now a '70s classic of sorts. Trying to devise a followup angle must have been challenging, but the results came out disappointing. Several years after the breakdown of Westworld, the Delos adult theme park populated by life-like robots has been rebuilt and perfected. To secure confidence in the public and much-needed publicity, the head honchos of the corporation invite a popular newspaper writer (Peter Fonda) and television reporter (Blythe Danner) to be their guests at the resort with full access to their operation. But the snooping duo begin to uncover an underhanded plot that's as hackneyed as it is stupid.Problems here begin with the observation that Fonda and Danner are rather lethargic leading stars. This entire production has a cheap "Made For TV" feeling in its style. The "human-like" robots that move around the complex call attention to themselves by uttering such ridiculous illusion-killing lines such as: "No, Sir, I am a Model 3x - I am not programmed to lie", "We're both sex models", "I am sorry, sir, I am a Model (whatever) - I am not programmed for sex!" (I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the idea). Just idiotic. Worse of all is the laughable cameo appearance by Yul Brynner as the robot gunslinger who had been so deliciously deadly in the first movie. This without any doubt has got to be one of the most vomit-worthy excuses to revisit a recurring character for any sequel ever made. It's so pathetic that I won't spoil it for you... you won't believe it if you've seen the original WESTWORLD. ** out of ****