Escape from the 21st Century review – teenagers fast-forward to the future in barmy sci-fi

“When you grow up, your heart dies,” is a famous line of dialogue from The Breakfast Club. In this barmy coming-of-age sci-fi a trio of teenagers find out that adulthood really does suck after sneezing themselves 20 years into the future. The movie is a directed by young Chinese film-maker Li Yang on a maximalist scale; it’s noisy and flashy, like a John Hughes movie made for TikTok – every scene sped up or slowed down, stylised with a comic-book animation or pinging with gamer special effects.

The year is 1999 on a planet that looks a lot like Earth (although days are only 12 hours long, so time really does move fast). Three 18-year-old school friends acquire the power to travel forward 20 years in time after falling into a lake polluted by toxic chemicals. High-school heartthrob Chengyong (Yang Song) is appalled to discover as an adult he has become a nasty thug involved in an organ trafficking racket. Zha (Ruoyun Zhang) grows up to be an investigative journalist hopelessly and miserably in love with a colleague who’s so badass she puts on ear plugs to fight: “I hate the sound of men screaming.” Only overweight bullied Pao Pao (Chenhao Li) is pleased with the future. His 38-year-old self is gym-sculpted and living with the most popular girl from high school – which is not without complications.

But the idea that adulthood is where idealism goes to die is just a backdrop for epic loopiness directed with energy and invention. This is a film with some flashes of visual brilliance and wonderfully silly moments – like a baddie threatening to microwave a cat. The breakneck speed of it will suit audiences with diminished dopamine responses; the rest may just get whiplash.