This film is a thing of beauty. There is not much new to the AI genre, but when i'm left with gratifying philosophical musings well after watching a move, i would consider it a successful piece of art.
When the robot said, who made you? You don't know, you just appeared. Just like us.
The life concept is a brilliant one.
Great film.
yes, the movie has its moments but overall, it has little.
The robot bits are nice, yes, but can't change the overall poor quality of the movie.
Story: re-re-re-re-re-recycled story from Asimov's universe. Robots that gain more humanity than some people. It's ok.
Arc: Banderas' character is the only one that holds water. A worn-out insurance guy who wants to move on for the sake of family and still gets involved in the robot drama. Perfectly ok, decently acted.
The main issue that none of the other characters make sense. The company realizes their system may have been compromised and decides to do a coverup. Ok. But the coverup is already done, the robots are moving to where they can't ever get into contact with people again. Their work is done for them. They don't bother to check into what Banderas' character knew or was really after. Just a brainless kill 'em all that totally contradicts the image of ruthless corporation. The main plot should have been over before it even started.
All other characters are absolutely flat and fail to instill any feeling at all. His boss, his wife, the cruel cop, they are all flat and lifeless. Poorly written I imagine as the actors did try to move beyond the script.
It's not a deep plot and it's not an action movie, the action sequences lack soul or imagination.
The soundtrack is really atrocious, few sequences (if any) fit with the music (where present).
Had it went shallow and chose the Michael Bay way, it would have been more entertaining.
Had it chosen to give more depth to the characters and a better plot construction, it would have been good or even great.
As such, it's entertaining (I'm not denying that), but in the end it falls flat and a 6 is more than fair.
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Some excellent points here.
First thing I'd do is let go of the whole "rating" system. Why anyone would put stock in that.. it's beyond me. After all, who are the people who are going to vote? People who either loved it or hated it. Also, you're talking about a film designed to appeal to a more cerebral audience- you know, the kind of people who will actually reason out their scoring method. "well, if I make it an 9, I thought Blade Runner was a 9 and it's not as good as BR, but if I make it a 5, that's what i voted Revenge of the Sith, and it's far better..." and so on and so forth. Whereas the average joe who likes a film like Transformers is just going to think "dude! transformers was the best movie EVER. A 10 all the way. Dude, Transformers 2 was better than Transformers 1- it was the best movie EVER. 10 all the way!" and that's the thought process there.
In other words: forget the "score"
The film is a solid sci-fi thriller of sorts. I wouldn't say its an action picture because, well... it's not. It's a slow boiler. I think it was a beautiful film and fairly well written, although I don't like having my subtext spoon fed to me so blatantly, but it left a lot to be desired. I didn't feel it really got to where it should have gone. The evil corporations endgame was a big "so what?" and the metaphorical crossing of the canyon just kind of fell flat... Even Jacq's final act of grabbing the gun and pointing it at the AI-Bug suggested he hadn't fully learned- he had an incomplete story arc.
oh, and way to drop the suggestion that the new AI could reproduce like humans and then not explain how that's possible. Talk about a huge WTF!? moment...
I don't care that you posted this 5 months ago, I just wanted to say how relieved I am to read this post.
I just finished watching the movie and through it all I kept getting more and more angry at the wild conjecture motivating the antagonists. All of them. Jacq is pretty open about his investigation from the get go, yet the corporation just starts killing people instead of asking questions. Because... No idea. I really, really dislike plots that develop because of assumptions and a lack of incredibly simple communication.
IMDB ratings are fairly worthless really. Too many chubs and other sadboys rate any movie they didn't like as a 1 and those they like as a 10. Add in studio shilling and the activities of keyboard "activists," you wind up with a rather useless number.
At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little.
Too many marvel fanatics saw the movie :) Thats the case with many foreign films catching mainstream attention (the rover)
shareWhy the low ratings?
- Lame plot
- Sci-Fi gadgets from 80s-90s, and they're poorly done even compared to movies from that time
- Little to no character development
- Sci-Fi with very little Science and a lot of Fiction
- Movie tries to be deep, but fails miserably. You can't just fling your ideas at the audience like a monkey flings turds and then go "DID YOU GET IT?!"
Is this thing a piece of art? Yes, but the artist isn't that good.
This movie is a 4/10, maybe 5/10 at best.
Because it sucked bigtime.
shareThe whole movie is at times too arbitrary in its logic and tone. The sniper scene is symptomatic for those random shifts. Either Automata is set in a totalitarian dystopia where people are picked off by snipers for petty violations, or humanity, on the brink of extinction, fights for survival – not to mention the inconsistencies within this scene.
This extends to many of the characters (including Jacq Vaucan), whose motivations at times seem rather erratic. I can't shake the feeling that the movie oftentimes chooses style (definitely its strong suit – scenes are nicely put together, props and costumes are good, the lighting is superb) over substance.
It appears as if the creators had a vision of certain central elements of the movie, which in themselves play out pretty nicely, but while connecting those dots they lost focus of how everything would turn out as a big picture.
It appears as if the creators had a vision of certain central elements of the movie, which in themselves play out pretty nicely, but while connecting those dots they lost focus of how everything would turn out as a big picture.
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I don't like writing negative reviews. I'm no amateur film critic and this is a genre I love. I'm also pretty generous with my ratings, just basing them on how much I enjoyed a movie but I gave this a 4. I finished this movie feeling irritated that I'd devoted my free time that evening to watch it. Rather than just being 'ok', it actually detracted from my evening.
The whole thing seemed pretty ham-fisted to me with a lot of the 'meaningful' moments coming across as slightly ridiculous. Nothing against the actors... I like Banderas just fine but this movie was off key with most of the notes it tried to strike.