Future Hunters

This movie is a mix of Kung-fu movies. Rambo,Raiders and other influences? the plot is about a Sword from the future and it must get to some tribe of Amazonian Women to make everything ok. I watched this movie and tried to figure out why i was watching it.

Future Hunters is an under the radar 80's action movie that throws everything it can think of at the screen in an attempt to catch an audience. It combines several popular film genres of the time to delirious effect. It starts out like it's going to be a post-apocalyptic movie but quite soon afterwards the hero time-travels back to the 80's in an attempt to try and avert an impending nuclear war in a manner not a hundred miles away from ideas underpinning The Terminator. He achieved this (somehow) because he has in his possession the Spear of Destiny and he ropes in a young couple into finding its magical sheath, by now it's taken a Raiders of the Lost Ark turn in its pursuit of religious artifacts, later on, large rolling stone boulders emphasise this influence only further. On the subsequent quest the film combines a – really good - extended martial arts fight in a shaolin temple, neo-Nazis, a lost tribe of dwarfs and a further tribe of Amazon women. There's lots of pumping 80's music on the soundtrack, chases, fights galore, guns, explosions and death by crocodile! And to add a little extra cult value, it stars a young Robert Patrick in a role that he gives his all to. This was one of several cheap genre films that were filmed in the Philippines at the time – there were financial incentives to do so – and the South East Asian flavour certainly adds a lot as well. In the final analysis, this is a very fun action movie that consistently attempts to entertain its audience in a myriad of ways. You can't say fairer that that really.

Jungle adventure? Time travel sci-fi? Post-apocalyptic action? Chop socky flick?: sometimes it's hard to decide precisely what kind of trash to watch! The answer to this dilemma... Future Hunters, Cirio H. Santiago's crazy crap-fest that mixes several genres and rips off a fair few better known films, but still manages to be a hugely entertaining one-of-a-kind experience.

The film opens with some Mad Max-style action, hunky wasteland warrior of the future Matthew (Richard Norton) blowing up an assortment of evil leather clad punks in his quest to find the Spear of Longinus, which, when placed on the original staff, has the power to save mankind. Upon finding this powerful treasure, Matthew is thrown back in time to 1986 where he is fatally wounded saving sexy blonde amateur archaeologist Michelle (Linda Carol) and her ex-marine boyfriend Slade (a young Robert Patrick) from some nasty bikers.

Before he carks it, Matthew entrusts the spearhead to Michelle and Slade, telling them to give it to a Professor Hightower, who will know what to do with it. The pair's search for the professor takes them all over the world, pitting them against power hungry Nazis, a deadly martial arts master, a bloodthirsty Mongol army, and a tribe of savage female warriors who guard The Venus Valley, the location of the spear staff.

As well as Mad Max, Santiago borrows from Raiders of the Lost Ark (Nazi's in search of an ancient religious relic), The Terminator (hero travels back in time to before the nuclear holocaust), Romancing the Stone (couple stranded in jungle), and even Return of the Jedi, a tribe of friendly native midgets helping out in a scene clearly inspired by the Ewoks battle on Endor.

It is, of course, extremely cheap and cheezy, with wooden acting and poor special effects galore, but it sure is fun, the best bits being one hell of a kung fu showdown between Hwang Jang Lee and Bruce Le (with Patrick throwing a few punches but getting his ass whooped) and a fight to the death over a crocodile pit between Michelle and an Amazonian woman.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

This is actually a good film, don't let the dodge music fool you. It may have a weird plot about relic hunting and saving the world, but it has good action sequences and a young Robert Patrick who is pretty cute, and features throughout the film. This is certainly a good role for a first timer in a movie (yes his first role ever), he has so much energy and charisma. The fights scenes are quite well done on such a low budget, 'Patrick' does it realistically with vigour. It may be cheesy when it comes to plot and music but it's the 80s. I would have certainly been entertained in the 80s, it is reminiscent of other classic 80s adventure/action films, you'll see what I mean. If they had tinsy bigger budget and better recording equipment this would have been box office magic. But I believe the film would have done well if more people had bothered to see it. The film has only aged because it has been overlooked. But it's a little gem for Robert Patrick fans- I watched this all the way through with a delighted grin on my face hence the high-ish rating.

My review was written in January 1989 after watching the film on Vestron video cassette.

From the rash of look alike adventure features on video emerges a winner: "Future Hunters", in which prolific Filipino helmer Cirio H. Santiago outdoes himself in fresh and entertaining fashion.

Lengthy pic unfolds as a virtual homage to the high adventure movies of George Lucas yet moves beyond mere imitation into its own successful territory.

Prolog is set in the year 2025 with regular Santiago hero Richard Norton chased around by baddies in "Mad Max"-style cars and outfits. In a remote temple in the desert he finds the head of a spear, said by legend to have pierced the body of Christ on the cross and to hold spectacular powers.

Back in present time (1986, when pic was shot under the moniker "The Spear (of Destiny)"), statuesque blonde Linda Carol plays a college anthropology student who, with boyfriend Robert Patrick, visits the same temple Norton visited. Norton has traveled back in time via the spear's power, and helps the 1986 duo fight off a gang of mean bikers (who at first think futuristic Norton is a kindred biker, given his "Mad Max" leather garb).

Complicated plot, punctuated constantly by action sequences, has Norton expiring but setting the young couple on his mission, to unite the spearhead with its lost shaft, and use the resulting object's power tgo head off an imminent world holocaust and thus change the future from whence he came.

Elements of both "Indiana Jones" films plus a healthy sprinkling of "Romancing the Stone" are pleasantly arranged, with pic steadily put across by heroine Carol, an American beauty closely resembling Greta Scacchi. Her willingness to get her hair mussed and enter enthusiastically into the action is a big plus.

Patrick is merely okay as the hero and the villains are nondescript; more upscale casting might have earned this laudable little film some theatrical attention.