The sequel to _Westworld_, 1973's high-concept / low-budget android disaster movie, _Futureworld_ is thematically similar, but less ambitiously entertaining. It still features a crew of convincing mechanical doppelgängers who march around a handful of themed amusement parks, mindlessly carrying out a variety of functions for delighted visitors, but their movements are less proactive. These bots act more like a servant class than the walking, talking theatrical props they played in the first film. They'll serve your drinks, maintain the park's infrastructure, even screw you if they happen to be the right model, but lack the implicit menace of their forebearers, and that makes them less essential. This time around, the big trouble involves the capture and synthetic cloning of various world leaders, to advance a vague, corporate-friendly political agenda. Not quite as viscerally entertaining as maniac machines with a spontaneous thirst for human blood. Our male / female leads, a dull-as-doorknob pair of chummy reporters in the midst of a casual fling, basically trip over the bigwigs' evil scheme in-between trips to the bar and the dirty dream machine. The latter provides our only non-flashback glimpse of cowboy Yul Brynner, the headline star (misleadingly promoted as a major player) reduced to a pointless role in a weird, three-minute-long montage. Dreary, lazy and overlong, the whole mess often feels like it's stuck in a holding pattern while more interesting developments find their positions. Imagine my surprise when those never arrived. At least the parting shot is abruptly hilarious.

The sequel - A way to make more money from the same idea. Well sometimes it works if you have a good initial idea and a good, interesting story. The initial idea was good but the story here wasn´t. [spoiler] It is a cheap conspiracy story that could, and would, have better worked stand alone. The evil corporation that tries to take over the world. That wasn´t a new idea even then. And it is badly done here. First there is almost no suspense because it is pretty obvious what is going on very early. Second, the park was pretty much rebuild for the sole purpose of replacing all those people which raises the question what has changed at Delos or if it was their secret plan from the beginning with the first park. That in turn puts the first movie in a different light. The two plots just don´t mix. And the way the writer includes Brunner´s character of the Gunslinger is ridiculous and has ne effect on the plot. I´d say he was included to bait people into watching.[/spoiler]

Some things should live in the past Like this 1970's view of robots as being great for egotistical role playing and sex, but only until they go crazy or try and take over the world. It's hardly even worth it for the novelty value.