Legendary bounty hunter John Tucker is about to face the most dangerous ordeal of his career. But luckily, he's armed with his most powerful weapon yet; his grown son Billy, who travels back in time, to save hohn from the city's most brutal gang of criminals. Sequel to 'Future Force' has John Tucker's son traveling back in time 30 years to save his father from being killed by thugs he is currently pursuing back in 1990. A rare example of a sequel that's better than the original. David Carradine returns as rough'n'tumble bounty hunter John Turner, who this time locks horns with ruthless drug dealing crime boss Hoffman (an effectively sleazy portrayal by Patrick Culliton). Turner is assisted by brash young hotshot Billy (a likable Ted Prior), who ultimately turns out to be Turner's own son from the future who's traveled back to the present to spend some quality time with his father. Writer/director David A. Prior shows a greater degree of flair and competence than in the previous picture; he relates the story at a steady pace and stages the stirring action scenes with a reasonable amount of brio. Moreover, Carradive delivers a much more lively and committed performance as the hard-nosed Turner. The solid acting from a good cast rates as another substantial plus: Gail Jensen as Turner's fed-up shrewish wife Marion, Ron Taft as Hoffman's vicious flunky Dugan, Charles Napier as huffy corrupt police chief Mickland, Renee Cline as sarcastic informant Cindi, and Dave Scott as sniveling toady Monroe. The breezy and engaging chemistry between Prior and Carradine really keeps the movie humming throughout. Voya Mikulic's slick cinematography, the tight 79 minute running time, William T. Stremberg's spirited cornball score, and a decent dab of gratuitous female nudity are all on the money as well. A perfectly enjoyable little low-budget B-action flick. `Future Zone' is the sequel to `Future Force,' which was a good idea gone totally bad. David A. Prior took a lot of good elements and wasted them in that movie. He had a big name star in David Carradine, and he either didn't utilize this star power or didn't direct the star right, as Carradine just didn't seem to have the heart to be in the movie, looking completely bored. Prior took good music from Steve McClintock and Tim James and put it in all the wrong places and at the wrong decibels. He took good villains (William Zipp and Robert Tessier) and a good plot and squandered them with stilted dialogue and bad pacing. But with this sequel, you wouldn't have known this was the same director. Prior does everything that he did wrong with `Future Force' and corrects it.<br/><br/>Here it seems like the events of the first movie have been forgotten except that Carradine is still a hard-nosed bounty hunter, but now he has a wife he neglects, and it isn't the same character he walks off with in the first film. One day, his life is saved by a young hotshot whose shooting skills rival that of Carradine himself, and this youngster (Ted Prior, of all people, doing some of the best acting in his career) beings to hang around with loner Carradine. We know when we first see this character that he is really from the future, and I for one as able to put the pieces together about who he really was before it was revealed, but it was still neat. David Prior's writing was so much better that the ease at which I was predicting events didn't matter because I was enjoying it all so much. The music, though not by the same good musicians as before, was better placed, and the dialogue much better. Best of all was that Carradine did a three-sixty, getting into his part and having fun doing it. While the movie still had some flaws, it was good enough for me, and way better than its predecessor. Zantara's score: 6 out of 10.
Petunpazy replied
295 weeks ago