Warriors of Future, directed by Ng Yuen-fai; written by Lau Ho-leung, Law Chi-leung and Mak Tin-shu. Starring Louis Koo and Sean Lau. Hong Kong/Chinese mainland, 101 minutes, IIB. Opens Aug 25. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

After a long, hard road — first cluttered by a lengthier-than-expected post-production period, then by COVID-19 — actor-producer Louis Koo’s labor of love has arrived. Warriors of Future is a healthy, bouncing baby of a sci-fi romp. Announced in 2015, Koo’s $56 million production — a somewhat unconscionable budget by local standards — started filming in 2017. It could be Hong Kong’s most ambitious movie ever, pitched at a technical level rarely seen here, and that in a genre that normally doesn’t get much attention unless it’s Brand Marvel.

Though Koo has been the film’s guiding force for seven years, directing duties fell to veteran visual effects pro Ng Yuen-fai, an award winner for his work on Peter Chan and Raymond Yip’s The Warlords (2007) and Re-cycle (2006) by the Pang Brothers. However, it’s his contribution to Teddy Chan’s Bodyguards and Assassins (2009), a sprawling period drama with a heavy emphasis on place — chiefly Hong Kong of the early 20th century — that prepared him best for this. 

Louis Koo (left) coproduces and stars in Warriors of Future, playing a soldier who wages war against a rogue plant threatening human civilization. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Warriors of Future unfolds in a not-too-distant yet unspecified future on an Earth devastated by environmental decay and heightened militarism. People live in special safe zones because the air is too toxic to breathe. At some point, a meteor crashed onto the planet and unleashed a deadly vine named Pandora. When it grows, what’s left of the cities dies, but ironically Pandora’s unique version of photosynthesis purifies the air. The action starts when a soldier, Tyler (Koo), heads outside the safe zone with a small squad to find the “heart” of Pandora and inject it with a virus that will render the plant inactive, but still able to scrub the atmosphere. When the mission fails, Tyler’s best friend and fellow warrior Johnson (Sean Lau) goes on a second mission to rescue the survivors and complete the job.

Louis Koo (left) coproduces and stars in Warriors of Future, playing a soldier who wages war against a rogue plant threatening human civilization. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Is Warriors of Future hokey sci-fi nonsense? Yes, it is. Is it derivative of other hokey sci-fi? Sure. Aficionados are going to spot dozens of references to genre concepts and visuals, old and new, and it should come as no surprise that the film suffers from the same sickness as all post-Bourne action cinema. The action is so frantically shot and edited, often it’s hard to figure out what’s going on. Several sequences (recollecting the virus vial from a crumbling building, a robot and tank chase) would have benefited from a slower pace, the effects crew’s stellar work deserving of a moment in the sun. 

But the real litmus test for films like this is: Is it fun? And again, yes, it is. 

Ng and Koo have pulled off quite a feat. Considering $56 million is a modest budget for a sci-fi movie by Hollywood standards, Warriors of Future is technically as strong as anything Disney, Warner Bros or Netflix have spent $200 million on in the last decade — and, in many ways, better. There is no noticeable compositing. The future-military vehicles don’t look like they came from a video cut scene. The apocalyptic city of the future is vivid. And just to prove that Marvel isn’t alone, Warriors hints at a possible franchise. Clearly Koo has been taking notes.