Future Force

It's about an arrogant cop played by "David Carridine" whom protects a female reporter who knows too much. For that a ransom death sentence (or a bounty) has been put out on her life. It's the typical shoot 'em up and save the girl type of films.

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.

David Carradine plays John Tucker, a futuristic cop who uses a robotic glove to combat a corrupt totalitarian government in this cheap action flick which has Carradine in okay form, despite being too cheap to work at being the type of action flick it tries to be. David Carradine is an actor who's career went straight through the crapper, after some promising movies in the 70's. After a failed attempt to bring Kung Fu to the 80's, he ended up making sub-par cheapies like this to stretch out his prolific filmography. Future Force walks the fine line between just plain terrible and amusingly awful. The production values themselves rival ROTOR and it becomes quite obvious that Carradine's pay cut consisted of at least 70% of the budget. What is somehow even goofier about the movie are the action sequences in which Carradine actually manages to use a remote control glove to fly and zap people. This of course adds to the fun of watching what could quite possibly be one of the most low grade science fiction movies ever made. Still you have to love Carradine's macho tough guy role who is so laid back that he seems more at home smoking pot then actually saving the day. David Carradine though has always seemed like a stoner (Well actually he is) and that is why we love him.

* 1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

This is a poorly conceived trainwreck. How this movie is rated R is a big question because there is nothing that would be restricted to anyone over 6 years old. Low budget? Yes, very low. So bad, it's good? No, not at all. Everything about this movie is terrible. If you can't go another day without seeing another Carradine movie, then go ahead. You can't make a low budget "future" movie. Well, not this low. Ticker signs and mini TVs with terrible graphics doesn't cut it. Sometimes he has that mechanical arm and other times not. Long stretches of nothing before any action. We do have afternoon soap operas for this. Everyone's energy level is very low. A 110 year old with diabetes in an assisted living home could destroy everyone in this movie. It's just boring and terrible.

My review was written in November 1989 after watching the movie on AIP video cassette.

This straight-to-video feature offers some offbeat social commentary in its sci-fi approach to the future of law enforcement.

David Carradine toplines as an elite bounty hunter in 1991, working for the Civilian Operated Police Systems (COPS), a result of turning law enforcement over to the private sector. Film gets under way with a bang as Carradine reads a parody of Miranda rights in a suspect & blows him away.

Soon the shoe is on the other foot as COPS' head honcho WIlliam Zipp puts a $100,000 bounty on Carradine's head when our hero sides with Anna Rapagna, a tv news reporter who's got the goods on the out-of-control civilian police.

Pi climaxes in an interesting mixture of cynicism and hope for reform following Carradine's showdown with Zipp's chief henchman (Robert Tessier), as well as Zipp's ironic comeuppance.

With a nod to "Robocop", Carradine wields a high-tech "arm" that fits over his real one (or works via remote control) and operates like a cannon. Otherwise, "Future Force" is low-tech but scores high in imagination.

The taciturn Carradine is appealing as the good-bad guy and already has filmed a sequel. Supporting cast is effective, notably Dawn Wildsmith who essayed a similar tough gal role opposite Carradine in "Warlords".