04-008 Warriors of Future

04-008
Warriors of Future

In August 2022, a movie premiered in Hongkong has created a vast among of discussion locally. The name is Warriors of Future, a science fiction action film produced by a local company One Cool Film Production. Production started back in 2017. Filming took place in Hongkong and the nearby Shenzhen. Production suffered from several delays and the movie finally reached the big screen in August 2022, first in mainland China, then in Hongkong, and then overseas.

Movie poster of Warriors of Future

To produce a science fiction action film requires a large budget. Normally, local market size is not large enough to support such a project. Even counting the market size of mainland China, such investment is still risky. Because of all these, local produced science fiction movies are not common. And a science fiction movie in such a scale is really rare. Probably, Warriors of Future is the one and only one in Hongkong movie history.

A large investment does not necessary lead to public interest. It is all because of an audience in mainland China posted a photo on social media. He bought a ticket of Warriors of Future, but his ticket showed Moon Man. The ticket agent assured him that the ticket has no problem. “Just told the usher that you are watching Warriors of Future and he will escort you to a different screen.”

Moon Man is another science fiction film produced solely in mainland China. Both movies were premiered at the same timeslot. The reason of printing a ticket with the wrong name is because by doing this, the cinema will receive a higher commission. Apparently, Moon Man is willing to pay more to cinemas. This kind of cheating is quite common in China. However, that also means the money from Warriors of Future audience will end up in the pocket of the production house of Moon Man. Box office would also not reflecting the truth. 

So, it comes to a situation that a mainland Chinese movie defeated a Hongkong movie through a dishonest way. And after all those happened in 2019, you can imagine how local Hongkongers would react. People are roaring, saying that they will fully support Louis Koo, the producer of Warriors of Future, by all means.

Almost all local cinemas were showing Warriors of Future in August, including the Sunbeam Theater which normally only shows Chinese operas. Social medias were flooded with photos of Warriors of Future ticket stubs. Many people were watching the movie more than 1 times. Some were buying 20 tickets, just to support. Local box office soared up to 82 million HKD finally. Just bear in mind, the local population is only 7 million here. This also includes kids and babies. And an average movie ticket price is less than HKD 100.

Uprising emotions can be irrational. Now, Warriors of Future is available on Netflix. More rational critics started to arrive. The movie is now scoring only 5.7 on IMDb.

What is the movie about?

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

The prologue of the movie states this:

Technology has been developing rapidly in the past century. The ambition of mankind brought along the war. Since the development of military robots, wars have been skyrocketing all over the world. I thought after the battle two years ago, people would learn and rebuild a better world. Instead, now is the time for mankind to pay the price. Natural disasters, industrial overdevelopment, and never-stopping wars worsen the global ecological environment. Diseases and famine shroud the world. The air is filled with high levels of toxins. Many babies were born with dire illnesses including my daughter, Sissy.

In order to restore the environment so that human development can be back on track, governments around the world started building Skynets that could purify the atmosphere. But while the Skynets were being built, a giant meteorite fell onto B16 and a giant alien plant began to grow out of it. This plant thrived when in contact with water, wreaking serious havoc. The irony is that it can actually purify the atmosphere. Scientists have named it Pandora. What end Pandora will bring to mankind remains to be seen. But as a friend once said, “We write our own ending.”

Warriors of Future is about an alien plant landed on Area B16. The plant, Pandora, can purify the polluted air but its growing also caused damage to the city. The local military force ACU is going to carry out a very difficult task, to genetically alert the plant to make it stops growing but continue to help purifying the air.

Where does the story take place?

Opening scene of Warriors of Future

The movie was filmed in Hongkong and in a studio in Shenzhen. The first few scenes give an impression to the audience that the story happens just in Hongkong. The scene in the Victoria Hospital enforces this impression. The floor directory is in the same format as those in local government hospitals.

Floor directory in Victoria Hospital

However, this is merely an impression. The movie has never mentioned Hongkong. The place is called Area B16. The landscape is also different from that of Hongkong.

When does the story happen?

The Earth was still in good shape until at least 2028

In Wikipedia, a year is given with a screenshot, 2055. But I cannot find that scene in the movie. Probably the screenshot is from a deleted scene. But I can find years mentioned in some other places. First, the opening scene told that the Earth was still in a good shape until at least 2028. And the completion of genetic study on the alien plant was also given a year, 2053.

A year is given, 2053
Note the country border shown on the world map

Anyway, the story takes place in a distant future. Country borders are still shown on the world map, but it seems that the world has become united under a joint government. So, the movie technically leaves all the current political conflicts behind.

How is the movie?

The movie is quite enjoyable to watch. It is a fast action movie with a lot of fighting. Computer graphics are in Hollywood standard. However, the storyline is not very rich. The plot is simple and straightforward. Story begins with a risk. The heroes sacrifice themselves, fight to the very end and finally eliminate the risk.

Many say that Warriors of Future is Hongkong’s version of Marvel. Yes, some scenes did looked very Marvel especially this one.

Isn’t that Captain American? However, the movie itself tells you otherwise. It was not inspired by Marvel but by a classic sci-fi movie from the 50s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a sad ending. Humans were defeated by the alien. But in Warriors of Future, “We write our own ending.”

The movie is inspired by a 1958 sci-fi classic
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I believe if you like Predator movies, you will like Warriors of Future. Predator movies do not have a strong storyline neither. Movies in the same franchise are just merely linked to each other. And in each movie, humans are always put under a very difficult task. But a few managed to get through.

The only problem is, I found myself is actually a racist. I am discriminating myself! I found that if the actors were all white guys and black guys and the language of the movie was English, then Warriors of Future would be perfect. However, seeing Chinese actors becoming superheroes and speaking Cantonese while shooting the aliens, it just a bit odd to me.

At the end of the movie, we saw Captain Tyler and Captain Johnson Cheng on a mission to the moon. Also, the war happened before the movie was not explained. These provide many possibilities for the movie to be developed into a multimedia franchise. It was announced that Warriors of Future 2 is already under pre-production and an animated prequel is also underway. I am looking forward to seeing a local sci-fi movie franchise to happen in the future.

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