Apocalypse Pretty Soon, and nobody trusts the government.

Yah, I know! I watch a lot of this stuff, don’t I? It’s okay. This is going to be a catch-all for honorable mentions. Consider our collective dreams of the future through science fiction and graphic novels. They don’t paint a glorious portrait for where we’re headed. Some are done better than others. None of these were great, but worth spots here.

Yes, this is just gratuitous Rosario Dawson. She was crushable before Sin City but this sealed it. She is the gorgeous bad-ass I want to traverse the dystopian future with. This 2005 animated graphic novel from Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller still stands up. The series of vignettes sticks very close to comic book level writing and is really a blast if you can get by Clive Owen’s stumbling in and out of an American gangster accent. It’s a bit distracting. Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke were made for graphic novels as they’ve rarely been more than 2-dimensional in anything they’ve done. And Rosario Dawson is… well, just look at her! What’s the future? It’s a dark, dangerous place where everyone is trapped in the struggle between mobs, corrupt politicians and gangs. It’s splattered mayhem, murder, strippers, sex workers, gunmen, strongmen and cannibals. The cannibal theme, in either a literal or figurative sense, is part of the future, no matter whom you ask. The future is an eat or be eaten world.

It’s 2028. Los Angeles is in the throes of rioting. The big corporations have pulled the straw that broke the camel’s back and shut down the water supply to the people of the city. Crime is running rampant. The city is owned by organized crime anyway. Shoutout to Jeff Goldblum here as The Wolfking of L.A. How is he so perfectly weird in so many ways? What’s the safest place in the city? It’s Hotel Artemis, a members only oasis for criminals who need a safe place to crash and have their stab wounds and bullet holes patched up by a salty, drunk Jody Foster, as Nurse. This 2018 movie would suck balls were it not meant to do more than suck balls. No redeeming qualities whatsoever outside of pure entertainment value and lesser known femme fatale bad-ass bitch, Sofia Boutella

And finally, for a bit of international flair, we’ll move to 2035 in Paris, where a giant digital screens circle the Eiffel Tower to broadcast news and UFC type death matches sponsored by pharmaceutical giants. Doping is legal. Any genetic modification is legal, the laws having been written by the corporations who’ve finally just out-and-out transparently bought off the government. The city is divided into two classes. There are the poor, living in the ruined streets of what was once the City of Tiny Lights. Then there are the rich who live in giant modern towers and call the shots for everyone below. Nothing new here. This is the standard cyberpunk/sci-fi future. It’s not always as near as 2035 but realistically we could head down that garden path long before we expect to, so why not? There are so many irony-chuckles in 2016’s Ares. The French have always been ahead of the game with the resistance to GMO products and big pharma testing. The struggles there to keep some degree of democratic principle are well documented. Ares is kind of their worst fears realized, and maybe we should step up our game here too. But the laughs abound. The view of the Eiffel Tower alone did my head in. The constant TV and radio broadcasts keep things buzzing. There is a background bit where they announced that dairy milk has finally been deemed unsafe for human consumption because of antibiotics and growth hormones. Later when his tiny niece tries to drink milk, Redo/Ares (central hero type tough guy dude played by Ola Rapace who should get more big roles in action films) tells her, “Don’t drink that. Not for kids!” This is the best movie of the three. It’s complete. Real plot. Better screenplay. Better acting. Great fight scenes. A great trajectory through, resignation, betrayal, conflict and redemption. It’s whole. It’s fun. No regrets here for the time spent.