Product Description

In 2025, futuresport is the organized sport of the planet. But someone else is getting organized, and their game is war. Now, superstar athlete Tre Ramzey is in this game on behalf of the world.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: R
Release Date: 31-AUG-2004
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55810 in DVD
• Brand: CAIN,DEAN/WILLIAMS,
• Released on: 1999-03-30
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
Shades of Rollerball! Director Ernest Dickerson and executive producer Wesley Snipes ponder the sport of the future and come up with... Futuresport, a combination of handball, ice hockey, and skateboard hot-dogging begun as an inner-city alternative to gang warfare and transformed into a glitzy media sensation. Dean Cain stars as the reigning Futuresport hero, a cocky glory hound who counts his cash and "popularity index" ratings with a smug grin until his narcissism costs him the championship game. As a ruthless terrorist group pushes the world to the brink of war, the suddenly altruistic Cain hatches a plan to bring Futuresport back to its roots. With the help of reporter (and former flame) Vanessa Williams and the game's creator (a rastah-inflected Snipes, who gives himself the film's best role), Cain proposes a winner-take-all game to settle the territorial dispute. Beefy former TV "Superman" Cain makes a better reformed hero than a snotty superstar and looks great in the game scenes, but Snipes steals the film with his funky turn as the inner-city guru with more on his mind than the game. Dickerson gives this TV film a handsome look and even injects a little grit into the otherwise bland screenplay, but apart from the zippy game scenes (which Dickerson films with an electrified energy), it's a familiar and rather flat bit of science fiction hokum. Footage containing violence and brief nudity has been added for home video. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Better than it sounds
I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. Considering it's a made for TV movie with the same kind of budget you can expect from that kind of production Futuresport really pulled it off. I'm not saying this movie is high drama or an incredible sci-fi epic, but I will say it deserves a little notation in the annals of the genre. I think it bears repeating: This is a made for TV movie, which means the budget was small and there was likely very little time for polish. In spite of this when you combine a good story, good acting and some of the cleanest special effects I have ever seen for a TV movie I get a pretty satisfied feeling by the time I get to the end credits. This is what the newer Rollerball movie should have been.

The plot, though it looks pretty basic on the outside, does have all the elements of good science fiction writing. It's not Gattaca, but it does keep the movie's pace going without resorting to cheap Hollywood tactics. What I like most about the story is that is shows some development with the main characters as well as gives enough exposure to most of the supporting characters for the script to end up being well balanced. The progression of the plot, with its minor twists and turns, keep an otherwise bland premise interesting. The violence is toned down a lot more than what you might expect so I would probably rate it a PG-13 or PG in that regard.

I won't say the acting is Oscar material by any means, but I will say it's better than most movies of this caliber. Wesley Snipes pretty much stole the show in this department. I enjoyed seeing him playing an essentially non-action role. It gives him a chance to stretch his acting muscles more, and that he did. You can tell he was enjoying his role, as were the rest of the actors. Dean Kane of Lois and Clark fame also plays a good lead in this one. The villains felt a little too much on the stereotypical bad person theme. Granted you get some pretty decent motives established at the beginning of the movie. They just didn't feel like terrorist/freedom fighters.

When I say Futuresport's special effects were the cleanest I have seen in a long time I'm not kidding. The digital touch ups they did for the hover boards are outstanding. To see these things gliding around with ease as if they were skateboards (with no skates mind you) is wonderful. The CGI scenes of various cityscapes and whatnot are also very nice and remind me of the stuff you see on Babylon 5. The tech was neat too, especially the guns and cybernetic cameramen. Very cyperpunk I must say. Unlike most TV or cable sci-fi movies you do see enough technology around outside and indoors to give enough for you to believe you really are seeing the 2020's. To sum it up everything went really well on the technical, effects and scenery side.

I'm not going to say Futuresport will win everyone over like it did me. It is after all it's a (everybody say it with me this time) made for television movie. If you can enjoy middle of the road, yet VERY well done, TV production values you should have no problems with this one. I wouldn't call it cyberpunk enough for the diehard fans of the genre, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the lighter side of it either. For the rest of you out there I say check it out, sit back, and enjoy what a good TV movie is supposed to be like.

A Nice Surprise
I'll be honest, like many of you Dean Cain fans (namely the women)I rented this movie because Dean is the most beautiful man alive. So I went into this movie with a very open mind. To tell you the truth, I really enjoyed the movie. It's a very cool sci-fi, sport, action movie and it's not that bad. At first, it's a little hard to follow, (especially if you're just staring at Dean), but it really makes sense. I guess the plot is a little out there, but so's the future. I mean who knows?-someday the world might be like that. It was good to see Dean play someone other than the sweet and innocent Clark Kent. He's a very talented actor who shouldn't just be remembered as Superman. Vanessa Williams was very good, playing the sassy heroine that knew how to take care of herself. A very believable character. And Wesley Snipes, the comic relief, helped the movie by adding a dash of humor to all the action. If you like, sci-fi, Future Sport is perfect for you-there is more to it than Dean Cain.

Futuresport...Worst movie ever made?
Wow! This is the worst movie I have ever seen. Wesely Snipes and Dean Cain team up in this action packed crapfest. I hope some hollywood type lost his job for signing the contract to make this movie. I wasted 2hrs of my life watching this film. I do confess that it was hard to take my eyes off the screen, in fear that it could possibly get even worse than the moment before. I highly recomend this film to anyone who thinks that their life couldn't get any worse than it is now. Because they would be wrong, they could have been an actor in Futuresport!