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Warriors of Future
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Wikipedia article
'Warriors of Future' , previously known as 'Virtus' , is a 2022 Hong Kong science fiction action film directed by visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai in his directorial debut and starring Louis Koo, Sean Lau, and Carina Lau. Koo also serves as the film's producer, with the film being funded and distributed by his production company, One Cool Group Limited.
Having been in development for three years, the film began production on 12 February 2017 and was originally set for release in 2019. After a long delay, the film opened the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival on 15 August 2022
and released theatrically on 25 August 2022 in Hong Kong. The film has polarized critics, as the visual effects, action scenes and performances receiving praise with criticism directed towards its plot and script.
Plot
In 2055, wars have ravaged the Earth, as global warming and disasters have destroyed the atmosphere entirely. Many people are born with birth defects and die, with sky nets built to protect the remnants of people in Earth. B-16 (now a futuristic Hong Kong city) is bombarded by a meteor. Pandora, an alien plant, emerges from the meteor which causes devastation to a 5 km area, and grows rapidly when there is rain. However, it can purify the air. ASU's (a local military force) lead scientist, Dr Chan, finds a way to eradicate Pandora and to purify the air.
Tyler and his friend Johnson Cheng, soldiers working for the ASU, are tasked to neutralize the threats whilst attempting to save the city. Colonel Tam is sent to oversee B-16; but she has a second plan to bomb the entirety of Pandora, which could kill a hundred and sixty thousand people in the area. Cheng heavily opposes the idea of sacrificing the citizens, as Tyler recruits old wartime friend Skunk to combat the growing threat. Privates Connor and Lincoln work with Tyler as Fighters 86, 15, and 46 as they escort the Orca 1 into the operation area. During the mission, Sean Li, the temporary leader of the government, sabotages Orca 1 as soon as the first storm comes, falling into a building which carried the gene missiles within it. 15 and 46 get sabotaged by robots and Pandora, crashing afterwards. Only Fighter 86 survives and finds the area where the pistil is, located at Central Avenue 5.
Lincoln is critically injured as Connor and Tyler try to help him and look for resources at an abandoned hospital, but Lincoln is suddenly snatched and eaten alive by mantis-like creatures. 20 more of them proceed to fight Tyler, as he retreats to a AED room. He finds a girl, Pansy, whose mother has died. Meanwhile, Connor hides in the mortuary, hoping the monsters don't find him. Cheng then drives an armoured car to the operation area, and uses a hatchet to kill most of the mantis-like creatures while Tyler pulls Connor out. Together with Skunk, they escape the hospital and arrive at the building where the Orca collapsed, finding the evidence that Li had rigged the robots and the gene bullets. The team contact Li, saying that they have the evidence of him rigging the robots. Li then proposes a challenge: to beat him, they will have to go against 3 robots.
2 of Li's robots chase the armoured car through the highway, as their missiles attempt to destroy the car but are deflected. Li sends 3 more smaller but trained combat robots to fight Tyler and Cheng, as Skunk drives. Cheng jumps out of the car and destroys the machine gun of one more robot, nearly dying during the process. Meanwhile, Skunk and Tyler arrive at Central Avenue and fight the largest robot, with its pulse machine destroying the car with Pansy inside. Tyler remembers how Pansy is reminiscent of his daughter Sissy, who died of cancer and fights the melee robots. Connor blows up the ground and Cheng returns, having saved Pansy. Cheng then enters the pistil area and finds lots of mantis-like creatures attempting to kill him. The second storm has came and Pandora now starts to grow more, as Colonel Tam suspends her mission plan after discovering Li's sabotage. Cheng injects the gene into Pandora to prevent growing, as Skunk and Tyler destroy the robot. Upon the team's return, Li decides to commit suicide when Colonel Tam and the army arrest him. Tyler then accepts another mission to see the Earth from the moon as the armoured car is fixed.
Cast
*Louis Koo as Tyler , principal force of B-16's Air Force who possesses extraordinary skills in operating fighter jets. His daughter died due to environmental pollution spiraling out of control, resulting him becoming very hot-tempered.
*Sean Lau as Johnson Cheng , commander of B-16's Air Force and Tyler's brother-in-arms who is always determined to never give up and believes soldiers are more reliable than robots.
*Carina Lau as Tam Bing , a colonel sent to District B-16 to execute the genetics alteration project.
*Philip Keung as Yau Tai-long , nicknamed Skunk , a former member of B-16's Air Force who was dismissed after committing a major mistake and became at odds with Tyler. He was later recruited by Johnson to rejoin the force to participate in the plan to alter the genetics of "Pandora".
*Tse Kwan-ho as Dr. Chan Chong-Chung , a scientist who successfully examines the genetic map of "Pandora".
*Janice Wu
*Wan Guopeng as Connor Kwong , a junior member of B-16's Air Force and Tyler's subordinate.
*Nick Cheung as Sean Li , commander in chief of District B-16 and the main driving force of Project Canopy. (guest appearance)
*Eddy Ko
*Sakurako Okubo
Production
Development
The film was first announced in May 2015 under the title, 'Virtus', and was set to be star Louis Koo and be produced by his film production company, One Cool Film Production, which will also work on the film's visual effects, under a budget of HK$300 million, with Benny Chan set to direct. Although filming was set to begin in the end of 2015, a teaser trailer was released which featured Koo in a robot suit.Filming
Production for the film officially began on 12 February 2017 on a set in Shenzhen which took two months to build according to Koo for the film's opening. Koo also revealed that the set is for a city taking place decades in the future with polluted air and water supply. The film will be directed by visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai, who worked on the special effects for films such as 'The Warlords', 'Bodyguards and Assassins' and 'The White Storm'. Aside from Koo, the cast also includes Sean Lau and Philip Keung, alongside newcomer actors Kevin Chu, Ng Siu-hin and Tony Wu. Lau states his character will be fighting aliens and large robots with mechanical equipment while Keung revealed that he will play a one-eyed driver.On 11 March 2017, One Cool Film Production released a making of featurette teaser displaying its new title, 'Warriors of Future', and revealing the film's 36 month pre-production and its new budget of US$45 million. According to the teaser, production for the film is slated to take 4 months to complete while post-production will take 18 months.
On 5 June 2017, it was announced that the film's four month shoot in Shenzhen has been complete and will resume its shoot in Hong Kong in August 2017.
On 19 March 2018, a new teaser trailer for the film was released. Aside from previous announced cast members, the trailer also featured new cast members such as Carina Lau, Nick Cheung and Tse Kwan-ho. On the same day, it was also reported that the film's production has increased to US$56 million.
On 15 March 2019, One Cool Film Production released a new trailer for the film.
Release
'Warriors of Future' opened the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival along with the film, 'Where the Wind Blows', on 15 August 2022 before its theatrical release on 25 August 2022 in Hong Kong in IMAX, 4DX and CFGS formats. The film was originally set for theatrical release in 2019, but its release was delayed for three years in order to allow time for post-production. On 10 December 2021, One Cool Pictures released a promotional clip featuring former TVB News anchor Vince Ng in a mock news clip reporting a meteorite is approaching the Earth and is projected to hit the Hong Kong at 8 PM on 17 December 2021, which was when a new trailer for the film premiered on billboard screens throughout Hong Kong before being available on the internet, displaying a slated release year of 2022.
Reception
Box office
'Warriors of Future' has grossed 310 million CNY (HK$356 million, US$45 million) in mainland China as of 14 August 2022, and HK$6.2 million in Hong Kong preview screenings between 19 and 21 August 2022. The film earned a three-day gross US$9.8 million during the weekend of 2628 August 2022 and was placed at No. 7 at the global box office of the weekend. Some box office analysts estimated the film would need to make HK$1.2 billion (US$153 million) globally to break even.In Hong Kong, the film debuted at No. 1 on its opening weekend with HK$19,703,177 (US$2,511,463) during its first four days of release and a total gross of HK$21,784,237 ($2,776,725) at the end of the week including preview showings. It also became the biggest opening for a local film at the Hong Kong box office since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film remained at No. 1 in its second weekend grossing HK$22,266,042 (US$2,838,138) and have grossed a total of HK$44,069,479 (US$5,617,310) by then. The film moved down to No. 2 in its third weekend, grossing a HK$9,484,285 (US$$1,208,374), and accumulating a total gross of HK$53,553,764 (US$6,823,179) so far.
Critical response
Edmund Lee of the 'South China Morning Post' gave the film a score of 3/5 stars and praises the film's visual effects as groundbreaking and a milestone in Hong Kong cinema while also noting the film's lack of fresh ideas.References
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