Future Hero

A comedy more than a Sci Fi. A nice one for the mix of parenthood, android, time travel and a father and husband refugied in himself. For heroism. And for an easy , refreshing, amusing story about future, choices and responsabilities. Nothing new but all gived in the most inspired manner. And that is the most important thing in this case. Maybe, for the seductive traces of fairy tale and cartoons.

I recently watched the film Don't Call it a Comeback from the same writer/director as made this short film and, aside from watching Future Hero, it also interested me to see similar struggles in both films. The plot here is that a father selfishly grabs a nap while his wife takes their baby to the park; however he is woken by an android who has come back from the future to kill the baby.

As an idea it is a good one because it takes a familiar idea, and makes it a comedy – so as a base it is a good one. It plays out broadly, and as such it is amusing in its energy and silliness, all leading to a punch-line that everyone will see coming, even if it only because of how familiar the camera-angle is at the end. This sense of familiarity and broadness should not take away from the film's amusing aspects, however it does weaken the film by virtue of making it feel like it is not aiming for more. The punch line is the best illustration of that, but generally most of the film does too; so yes it is amusing, but it is never hilarious, and it seems happy to have broad interactions between the two men, rather than something smarter and with more heart. The cast play it this way as well, and the production values consistently feel like this was something limited but fine with the limits.

As a throwaway sketch it is just about amusing and fast-paced enough to do the job at the level it is aimed, however it is hard to get passed the feeling of it being "good enough", and I did wish that it could have raised its game at least a bit and been funnier, smarter, and a bit more inspired.