Futuresport (1999)

Takes itself way too seriously

one of my absolute favorites!

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The 2025 Futuresport championship game is being played in New Orleans. Meanwhile, the Hawaii Liberation Organization (Hilo) is causing trouble not just in Hawaii but also outside the arena.The L.A. Rush is playing the Berlin Griffins. Trey Ramzey is the top player in the sport and he knows it. That cocky attitude is going to cost his team one of these days.Becker is a rival from Trey's days at Notre Dame, and a member of the Berlin team. Anarchy and Mayhem are teammates of Trey's. Lorelei is Trey's tough-looking short-haired current girlfriend. Alex is Trey's former girlfriend, a reporter who has been taken off the assignment of the Hawaii secession movement to cover the game.What is Futuresport? Years ago, Ramzey was a star basketball player, but a scandal led to the end of pro basketball. Ramzey started playing a similar game invented by Fixx, a Caribbean-sounding dude with dreadlocks. He started as a street player around 2015 but quickly became a professional as the sport became the nation's favorite. The arena is oval-shaped and high on the sides like a halfpipe, with an elevated area in the middle from which a cannonball-sized ball is shot out of ... well, let's call it a cannon. On each end of the court is a hole, and the player's objective is to put the ball in that hole. There seems to be a goalkeeper with a kind of net who blocks shots, but the shots come so fast he hardly ever succeeds. Each team has five players on the court at once, dressed sort of like people do in hockey, but with hovering skateboards rather than skates. They go around the court in a counterclockwise direction. And the sport is coed.What else is different in this world? The entire city of New Orleans looks like Times Square, and some of the display ads on the buildings talk.People have "bedwalls". That's sort of like TV, but in this world, TV, telephones and the Internet seem to be one and the same (a portable version resembles a wristwatch). The game is covered live on Zeitsite. Trey lives in a fabulous apartment run by a computer named Edgar. When he checks his telephone messages, he uses the same screen that appears to be a TV, where he can usually see the caller too. Edgar also screens his calls. He has a personality which is quite appealing, and a sarcastic attitude when one is needed.After the game, Alex wants Trey to use his fame and his Hawaiian heritage to influence those threatening war. Honolulu already looks like Beirut of the 1980s. Pacific nations and the U.S. military are supporting the two sides, if it comes to that. Trey's solution: a game of Futuresport where the winner gets the islands! Trey and Becker end up on the same team, which gives us some much-needed comedy relief. Jet, one of the top Hilo figures, plays for the other team.This isn't a great movie, but it has an interesting vision of the future, which is not always depressing because there are some pleasant moments. There is some violence, which is to be expected, and the weapons are more advanced than what we have today. Also some scenes of couples in bed, bt nothing too explicit.Dean Cain has some good scenes, mostly where he is a bad boy in front of the camera, and where he is more of a Clark Kent type alone with Alex. But he's not consistent.Vanessa L. Williams mostly does a good job. She looks good--if you like her with pink hair.Wesley Snipes is probably the best actor--since he's not Caribbean, to my knowledge, although he is usually sarcastic in his roles.David Kaye is no Al Michaels, but he has his moments as Ronny Vance, the game announcer for Zeitsite. I hesitate to call him a TV announcer because, well, there seems to be no distinction between the web and broadcasting. The visual effects are interesting--Vance sometimes appears on the court, but he's not really there because players pass right through him. Game statistics and even replays also appear right on the court.Most of the visual effects, however, do appear to be just that. New Orleans is quite a different place. This was filmed before Katrina, but it would have been just as big a change regardless.It's an okay movie if you like seeing what the future might be like, and if you like the stars.

Futuresport was a made-for-TV movie that was shown on the ABC television network back in October 1998. The movie may not be Rollerball, but I liked how the production company added extra footage to give the movie an R rating. The only drawback is that the movie fades out at intervals, but that's because it was on TV. Anyway, the movie is action-packed and is somewhat political. The political aspect is for fans only, but so are the special effects and the entire storyline. The best way to get rid of that made-for-TV look is to watch it on DVD in widescreen format. However, the widescreen look is matted, but the DVD comes in both widescreen and fullscreen formats. Just check it out!

This is a movie that starts off terrible and brings itself up to being an enjoyable movie at a steady pace. Built around some very good ideas the concepts surrounding the actual sport are well thought out and contain a degree of credibility. Anyone who knows of the game 'Hyperblade' will probably see the similaritiesDon't watch this movie hoping for large numbers of sport sequences because the truth is there are only a few but they are really good. The plot is average and cliches are thrown in but it all comes together without too many loose ends and there is a degree of satisfaction to the ending.Dean Cain ends up doing a good job in the lead role but it is the character played by Wesly Snipes that you really end up loving.If you like the scifi/sport genre give it a go, otherwise wait for it to appear on TV - don't hire a video you probably won't enjoy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. there was enough action to keep the "action" fan going and enough story for the story fan. Characterization was excellent, better than most films of this type. Best comparison, James Caan's ROLLERBALL. High quality and good story.