MovieChat Forums > A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Discussion > Desperately needs to cut the final 20 mi...

Desperately needs to cut the final 20 minutes out

posted 3 months ago by NoNonsenseMan (4)
4 replies | jump to latest

Just watched it for the first time and the ending pissed me off. It's so forcefully sappy and cringy that it ruined the whole experience. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief. Fk you Steven Spielberg.

David praying on the bottom of the ocean would've been one of the darkest and most memorable endings in film history, and perfectly fit with the tone of the rest of the movie. Roll the damn credits Steven, what the hell are you doing man, what is that space ship, what are those freaking "ayy lmao" aliens!?!??

I read the other thread where someone said that the audience started laughing when Teddy pulled the mother's hair out of nowhere - rightfully so, you know what I would've probably joined in and started booing too if I was in the theater 23 years ago.

Some people say that this movie is extremely underrated, but no it isn't. Not with this disaster of an ending. It deserves to be poorly rated and forgotten after committing such atrocity.

[–] willjbeau (725) 2 months ago

Contrary to popular belief, Spielberg did not pull the ending out of his ass. If you don't like it, blame the late Stanley Kubrick. He was the one who originally envisioned it.

[–] NoNonsenseMan (4) 2 months ago

Wrong. Stanley Kubrick would've cut that sappy crap out had he been alive to witness it. Every great director envisions something and then later fixes in the editing room if it doesn't feel right - and it sure as hell doesn't in this movie. Kubrick was also known for deleting a lot of material out of the final products, there are forums full of people talking about things he cut from The Shining and his other films to improve them, so no he wouldn't try to preserve anything.

Blaming it on late Kubrick, who was already dead before the production even started, is such a low blow by Spielberg and anyone who defends this movie. Spielberg is notorious for his bad overly-extended endings and this has his trademark signature written all over it.

Here's a great video from Terry Gilliam explaining the difference between Kubrick and Spielberg, highlighting what I just said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKS3rdYTpI

It's a real shame that A.I. ended the way it did, and it's likely the main reason why it failed to leave a bigger footprint in the film history. People saw it, laughed at the goofy-looking aliens and teddy bear pulling mom's hair out of his ass, and forgot all about it.

[–] Melton (4439) 12 days ago

Dumb post. The ending is great, and was why Kubrick wanted Spielberg to direct, it was far too emotional for Kubrick.

The beings at the end weren’t ‘aliens’, they were highly advanced A.I. machines who gave David the experience he yearned for before he dies.

It is both highly emotional and completely ‘fake’ - machines giving an older machine an emotional experience based on an illusion before shutting it down. It should be meaningless since these are just machines imitating human experiences… and yet many people in the theatre were in floods of tears by the end.

Be sure to understand the material before passing judgement in future.

[–] pazuzu9 (384) 12 days ago

Finally, someone who gets it :)