In the near future, crime is out of control. The government creates a private police force called Civilian Operated Police Systems (C.O.P.S. for short) to deal with the chaos. That means cops like David Carradine are now basically a cross between an independent contractor and a bounty hunter.
Really, the long-winded exposition is just an excuse to give us Wild West style shootouts on regular looking city streets rather than one horse towns, or sometimes in titty bars instead of old timey saloons. Oh, and did I mention Carradine wears a Power Glove-inspired gauntlet that shoots lasers?
Anyway, the plot has a news anchor who is about to do a story on the crooked head of the C.O.P.S. He doesn’t like that she’s been poking her nose in his illegal affairs, so he rigs the system and puts a bounty out on her. Carradine arrests her, and soon after, not only are the bad guys after them, but so are all the C.O.P.S. who are looking to collect the bounty.
Directed by David A. Prior for Action International Pictures, Future Force is silly fun. Couple the Power Glove rip-off with Carradine’s trademark world-weariness and deadpan delivery, and you have a recipe for a breezy and cheezy beer and pizza movie. It almost plays like a futuristic version of Wanted: Dead or Alive and has some truly funny touches along the way (like the head of one of the crime syndicates being a priest). I also dug the fact that all the C.O.P.S. dressed like extras from a biker movie.
The highlight of the hilarity comes at the climax when Carradine battles Mr. Clean himself, Robert Tessier in a junkyard. Down but not out, Carradine grabs the remote on his Power Glove and makes it fly around by itself and beat Tessier to a pulp. In a word… Cinema.
Carradine equips himself nicely here. It’s hard to think of many actors who could sell this sort of silliness with a straight(ish) face and make it work. Tessier (in one of his final roles) is also fun as the villain’s right-hand man. Also in the mix is Fred Olen Ray regular (and ex-wife) Dawn Wildsmith, as the lone C.O.P. who remains loyal to Carradine.
A sequel, Future Zone followed the next year.
AKA: C.O.P.S.
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