Comeuppance Reviews
In the future, crime is so rampant that regular police are overworked. Enter C.O.P.S., a private firm that is like law enforcement/bounty hunters. It stands for Civilian Operated Police Systems. The big hotshot of the C.O.P.S. is one John Tucker (Carradine). With the help of his computer nerd buddy Billy (Douglas), he always gets his man. After it is thought that TV news reporter Marion Sims (Rapagna) has some incriminating dirt on corrupt Adams (Zipp), the head of the C.O.P.S., he frames her for, of all things, treason, and now all the bounty hunters are after her. Luckily (or perhaps not), Tucker gets to her first. Now Tucker and Sims are on the run from their former co-workers, who all shoot to kill. Adams and his sidekick Becker (Tessier) are ruthless, especially against someone who is "not on their payroll", i.e. Tucker. But Tucker has a secret weapon, a "power glove" that must be seen to be believed....Here, director David Prior steals from everything ranging from Death Race 2000 (1975) to The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) to The Gauntlet (1977) to Robocop (1987), and it all has an especially junky feel. Even the cartoon COPS, which debuted on TV in 1988 (in that case it stood for Central Organization of Police Specialists), and the "original reality show" Cops, which debuted in 1989, might have been reference points for Prior, as they were contemporary shows in the general consciousness.But the filmmakers must have had problems with the timeline, as even though Future Force was released in '89, the "far off future time" was a full two years later, 1991! Couldn't they do just a bit better? Then again, they could have been aping yet another 80's classic, Max Headroom, which takes place 23 minutes into the future. But this seems like it could have been a potential Ron Marchini vehicle, as it has the same cheap, "futuristic", garbagey scenario, you know it's the future because all the baddies wear baseball caps, and Carradine gives a flat, unlikable performance. Even "John Travis" (one of Marchini's characters) and "John Tucker" are not far off, and Zipp's portrayal of Adams is kind of D.W. Landingham-esque. Was this originally meant for Marchini, but Carradine was used instead? Carradine seems bored/tired/uninterested/perturbed in his role as Tucker, and even though he was 53 years old at the time of shooting, it is said he is 40. We're not saying all action stars have to be young guys - look at Eastwood (an obvious influence on this film) - but come on. If the main star is not up for it, it can drag the movie down. While Carradine can do better, perhaps the influence of Marchini was just too strong. We know they know each other, at the very least, because they did a movie together, Karate Cop (1991). It's almost funny how much Carradine openly seems like he doesn't even want to be there. But on the bright side, he has an awesome vest.As far as the baddies, William Zipp gives the best performance we've seen of his to date. He sinks his teeth into his villain role. His sidekick Becker (interestingly also the name of his sidekick in Jungle Assault (1989), but played by Ted Prior), is a good heavy, and the actor that played him, Robert Tessier has a long career which contains everything from One Man Force (1989) to Beverly Hills Brats (1989) to No Safe Haven (1987).All of Tucker's C.O.P.S. co-workers are goofy-looking dudes (except for genre stalwart Dawn Wildsmith) and they hang out at a strip club called the Demilitarized Zone, but in the movie, they misspell "demilitarized"! Come on. Little things like that go to illustrate the sloppiness of the overall production.It may seem we've been a bit hard on Future Force, and Carradine's perhaps-uncaring performance has something to do with that (even though he's credited as a co-producer, so you'd think he'd care more, or at least put on that face), but if you take into account everything we've said so far, you could still have a grand old time watching this movie. It's "cheap and cheerful" as they say, and there are plenty of fun and funny moments. Plus it has some memorable Steve McClintock music, as is common for AIP, and has a short running time of less than 80 minutes.Seemingly one of the more popular AIP titles, you might be able to find this at closing video stores or thrift shops. If you do, pick it up...but don't get on John Tucker's bad side.For more insanity, please visit: comeupppancereviews.com
Vomitron_G
"Past Force" or "Present Force" would have been a more appropriate title for this movie instead of FUTURE FORCE. Not even one attempt by the film-makers is being done to make this movie look futuristic. This movie looked already dated before it even came out. Well, except for this amazingly cool and cheap-looking plastic robot-glove David Carradine wears from time to time. This movie also could have been called "David Carradine's 80 minutes car drive", because that's about all he does in this movie. Well, okay, near the end he does kick a few punches. But, damn, he looks out of shape and indeed drunk most of the time.Yep, this is one of those so-bad-it's-hilarious flicks. Why wasn't this one directed by Jim Wynorski? It would have been even more fun! Almost every five minutes there's a great laugh to be had with this flick. A couple of random examples: This movie features one of the most pathetic car-chases I've ever seen. Then the helicopter came on and I thought "Damn, where did the budget came from to hire it?" A few seconds later I was laughing again when they blew up that fake cardboard miniature helicopter. At one moment the chief of police (or whatever he is) is seen sipping some strong booze from a glass, smiling, clearly content with himself, not saying anything. I was waiting for the cut to the next scene, but instead he took another sip, and another... One of the best unintentional laughs I got out of this flick (and this is most definitely one of those re-wind moments) was when Carradine was driving the car and explaining to the reporter that he did not at any moment found all this to be funny, that he up until then did not laugh with anything at all... then he cranks up a smile and looks DIRECTLY into the camera. The editor (deliberately?) cut away just a few seconds too late. Maybe this was Carradine's way of saying to the director: "Screw you and your idiotic movie, hahaha!" The afore-mentioned robot-glove really is a hoot! It shoots silly animated blue lasers that almost always miss their target. It can punch through cardboard doors. And it can prevent a car from driving away just by grabbing it. Notice that Carradine and his wheel-chair-bound side-kick keep on nagging about "the remote control" throughout the whole movie. And when he finally activates it, you just wont believe your eyes. My friend and me jumped up from the sofa, laughing it up, out of sheer enjoyment. Just look at the way the totally NON-electronic suitcase opens itself. Just look at it fly through the air in all possible directions. Just look at it hitting and strangling the bad guy. Just look at it doing the a-okay sign. And all this by having Carradine pushing only ONE and the SAME friggin' button!Yep, this truly is one of the better bad movies out there. And, on the contrary of what one fellow commentator mentioned, this flick does indeed contain some female nudity (just some naked boobies flashing on your screen, but still a joyful moment it was). I got even more enthusiastic when I learned this movie actually has a sequel called FUTURE ZONE, also starring David Carradine!!! Damn, I really need to get my hands on that baby, real fast!
reverendtom
This is the kind of movie that is best watched with friends who are recovering from hangovers. That is how i was introduced to it, and it definitely helped my condition. This film is completely and totally hilarious. I love it. From the extremely cheesy dialogue to the sleazy porno looking police chief to the magical robot glove, this movie rules. In fact, I'm hungover right now. In fact, I'm going to watch it again right now. Yes.
