Westworld was written and directed by Michael Crichton, relatively early in his career. Previously he had written books that were beginning to be adapted into films (such as The Andromeda Strain) and begun to dabble in filmmaking himself, adapting one of his own novels and directing it for television. Westworld was his first film written expressly for the screen and his major film debut as director. It was a success, so much so that a sequel would be commissioned, one where he had no involvement for whatever reason.
Futureworld is that sequel.
Picking up a few years after the events in Westworld, we get the story about how the robots had gone berserk killing the guests at the amusement park. Now the whole place has been redesigned and reporters Chuck Browning and Tracy Ballard (Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner) have been invited to see the improvements and safeguards.
Of course things go wrong.
While it may not quite hold up to the original, Futureworld is a worthy follow-up to Westworld. Where the original took a look at our dependence on technology, this film looks at how technology can corrupt us and how we can corrupt seemingly benign technology.
The only returning person (aside from possibly some random crew member) from the previous film is actor Yul Brynner, and his role is pretty small. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and does fit in with the general story. Following the events at the amusement park Delos where human looking robots are there to amuse and entertain, but sadly went homicidal, the original themed Roman World and Medieval World with West World getting shuttered and Future World taking its place.
But why are so many heads of state invited to the opening of the resort?
Futureworld would have been a better film had Crichton been involved. It may not be as tightly paced as it should be, but does serve to explore other themes that were raised in the first film. Shout Factory has done a decent job giving the film a high-definition transfer. It has not been remastered from the original negative, clearly, but it does look much better than the last time I saw it (a couple decades ago on television). Sadly the special features are really lacking. A trailer and radio spots, as expected, but only some stills (including production work) are present as a real extra. No featurette, no audio commentary, no interviews, nothing. I know this film may not garner a wide release and Shout Factory have to watch the “return on investment” but SOMETHING should have been put on the disc to provide some context. At lease I’ll be able to do so for my kids.