Homegrown sci-fi flick shines through

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.