984: Prisoner of the Future (1982)

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie (TV show pilot) is BORING! It started out interesting and then turned into one long borefest! I can see why the idea for the TV series was axed. The film makes no sense whatsoever... they should have reveled why in the heck they were really prisoners beside this "enemy of Dr. what's his name" stuff. I mean the potential was there for a good film and maybe an okay TV series but this pilot pretty much sucks.I felt nothing for any of the characters. The one's that were captured and imprisoned for no real reason - I didn't feel bad for at all! They were very flat characters that I didn't care if the "bad guys" killed or let go. I really didn't care! That's one of the biggest problems with this film - flat characters in suits and ties that you can't sympathies with at all. It's like "who cares if they are imprisoned, they probably deserved it anyway but I really don't know because they aren't letting us know really anything solid about them".1/10

Many years ago I saw this movie on late-night television. Finally, after all this time I stumbled across it on a compilation. It was a pleasure to see this low-budget yet atmospheric film again.The lighting is well executed, editing is solid, acting is descent, and the robot designs are very cool. Shot selection is great, with lots of up-angle shots to add to the scale of the prison. This film has a great hard sci-fi short story feel to it. It's as if it was ripped from the pages of a science fiction serial from the 50s or from a plot by Harlan Ellison. It's nice to see something that hasn't been watered down by committee.Based on the credits it looks like this is a Canadian production. An interesting side-note is that there are very few Canadian productions that even come close to approaching USA Hollywood productions. Besides the relatively small budgets and general lack of infrastructure in Canada for film-production, there's a bit of a story behind the disparity between the two country's movie industries. The way it was relayed to me is something like this: Believe it or not, Canada's film industry started out as a pioneering force in film production and filming techniques. For example, there were some hot-shot crews working with the National Film Board of Canada figuring out advanced techniques for doing night shots and a variety of difficult weather shots and lighting setups. At some point, pressure was put on the NFB to move away from shooting movies and focus pretty much exclusively on documentaries and short films. Some suggest that it was a sort of non-competition clause between Canadian film productions and USA film productions. Hence the NFB is generally associated with very low production-value documentaries and short 'student' films. This gave the impression that Canadian film makers were somewhat inept.The reality of situation is that most of the talented Canadian film makers ended up being assimilated by Hollywood. Hence the vast number of Canadians living in L.A. Pull up a list of Canadian directors and cinematographers and prepare to be blown away. The conclusion is that if you actually supply these people with suitable equipment and a descent budget, they'll actually deliver the goods.

In a grim future, affluent businessman Tom Weston (a fine and sympathetic performance by Stephen Markle) gets taken prisoner and jailed in a dismal penitentiary for some sort of crimes he committed against the government. Despite being subjected to constant physical and psychological torture by the sadistic and eccentric warden (well played with lip-smacking wicked relish by Don Franks), Weston refuses to break and clings to the hope that he will one day be released so he can be reunited with his wife Margaret (lovely Michele Chicoine). Director Tibor Takacs and writers Stephen Zoller and Peter Chapman do an able job of crafting an intriguing, if at times too frustratingly vague narrative and present a powerfully downbeat, paranoid, and nightmarish vision of a dark Orwellian future that's both effective and unsettling in equal measure (the harsh oppressiveness of the prison environment in particular is captured in a strong and vivid manner). Markle and Franks do sterling work in the lead roles, with sturdy support from Stan Wilson as the warden's brutish assistant Jeffries. The central theme about the strength of the human will and its extraordinary capacity for overcoming the worst possible ordeals is both touching and provocative. Alar Kivilio's cinematography makes neat use of stark lighting and overhead camera angles. The surprise bummer ending packs a devastating punch. Although marred somewhat by the modest budget -- the robot security guards on roller skates are alas more silly than scary -- and a muddled plot, it's nonetheless an unjustly forgotten sleeper that's well worth checking out.

I had never heard of this obscure title until picking it up at a run-down video rental store, but I'm glad that I didn't pass up this rare opportunity. Other than the laughably bad effects (particularly the "enforcer robots"), this film has quite a lot of entertainment value, and tells a gripping (albeit incredibly confusing) story of one man's descent into madness in a post-apocalyptic future. For the incredibly limited budget it looks to have had as a TV movie, the film is definitely effective beyond its presupposed boundaries.Stephen Markle plays Tom Weston, an affluent businessman/politician (it is never really clear), content with the current government and his way of life. When "The Movement" (a quasi-fascistic socialist political organization that promises a future of peace) arises behind media mogul Dr. Fontayne, Weston is approached by his representatives, whom he refuses to cooperate with. Upon their rise to power, he soon finds himself thrown into a brutal futuristic prison along with several associates, where he is constantly interrogated by a sadistic warden (Don Francks) that does everything imaginable to psychologically torture him into admitting to crimes he is innocent of. The warden is terrifyingly persistent – Weston is tortured day in, day out for over ten years, with no human contact, until he finally can no longer distinguish between reality and fantasy. Over the years, Weston is tantalized by the sounds of chirping birds and children playing just outside his prison cell, which he hears through a small window high up the cement wall. The only thing that keeps him going is this and the thought of rejoining his wife on the outside world.Much of the film is revealed through flashbacks during interrogation sequences – we see how Weston was implicated in a plot to overthrow "The New Order" by force due to his association with Michael Roland (David Clement), his friend and politician. It is never made clear whether or not Weston is guilty, forcing the audience to come to their own conclusions. Are we to believe that he is innocent? How do we know that his flashbacks are not simply hallucinations brought forth through suggestion? This could either be the result of inferior film-making, or an intentional construct to force the viewer to experience the same confusion that Weston experiences. I would like to think it's the latter.Spoiler ahead: Throughout the film there are cryptic implications that the great "New World" outside the prison walls may not be everything the warden has made it out to be, and prison aides make unsettling comments about "the end." When prison guard Jeffries (Stan Wilson) enters Weston's cell, leaving the door open, he encourages him to escape, claiming that "it's over… for all of us." Weston attempts to outrun the security drones and escape this futuristic labyrinth. Finding escape to be impossible, he returns to his cell, climbing up the wall in desperation to peer out the window… to see only a barren desert, and a small speaker mounted on the outside wall, continually piping in the sounds of a once-thriving world.Apparently this was a pilot for a Canadian television series. It's not hard to see why it failed: the plot is simply too convoluted for all but the most die-hard science fiction fans, and it's dystopian vision too bleak for the audience to be left wanting more.Other than the aforementioned flaws, 984 (or The Tomorrow Man) is an entertaining film, and should be appreciated by fans of low budget science fiction, the post-apocalyptic, or those with a taste for unhappy endings.