MovieChat Forums > I Am Mother (2019) Discussion > Good Scif-Fi, Bad Drama

Good Scif-Fi, Bad Drama

posted 6 years ago by UpSideSunny (104)
8 replies | jump to latest

I had the pleasure of watching this movie 2 day ago. I am going to give a general review in the first paragraph hereunder, whereafter I will discuss spoilers, so please don't read further than that if you haven't seen the movie.

I think this movie is a solid addition to the sci-fi library. It has suspense, coupled with great character development. That is about all I can say without spoiling the movie. It is an interesting premise, and one that any sci-fi enthusiast will welcome.

Oh boy, does this thing fail in the execution of its premise. The 3rd act of the movie is only barely outdone by it's preceeding act. In the 3rd act Mother wants you to believe that she orchestrated everything in order to bring her plan to fruition - a better human. However, whilst teaching her "daughter" about philosophical concepts ranging from Hume to Bentham, it turns out "Mother" is nothing but a hedonistic utilitarian dictator? It makes no sense. Bad on you screen writers and producers of this movie. Boo on you, boo I say.

I understand the twist. The robot killed all humans and made a safe place for it to grow humans and train them (and educate then) to be better. The premise is easy to understand, Why then turn the robot into the enemy of every philosophical thought that was portrayed in the movie in the first act? If the point is that every person with power is inevitably evil (see the philosopher Razz), then why make this in the first place? I don't understand the social commentary. Perhaps someone will comment below and give me a different perspective.

TL;DR: Good Sci-fi movie, bad social commentary

[–] GordianNott (137) 6 years ago

SPOILERS
Well, I would say that despite herself, Mother fell into the same trap that humans did. She had plenty of human flaws, such as lying and having no regret. I would put this into the sci-fi category of "half-crazy, all-powerful computer." But I enjoyed it a lot.

For me the biggest flaw was the breakdown in the humans' reasoning at the end: 1) "We have to leave. We can come back with others"--why didn't Daughter see how stupid that was? They weren't going to open the airlock from outside. 2) "We're taking a baby with us"--yeah, right.

But the rest of the movie was good enough that I'll forgive those flaws.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

Do you mean that the Woman's reasoning was a plot contrivance?

Because it was indeed stupid, but borne out of desperation. Daughter went along with it because she'd learned, for the first time, that Mother was capable of lying. She, too, wasn't thinking clearly.

But I figure Mother either set up or at least exploited the whole misadventure to teach Daughter the folly of "humanity classic."

[–] Jinx (3869) 6 years ago

A robot cannot be philosophical, it has only logic, not the humanity that creates gray areas and philosophical doubt. Like lying for example, a machine would probably not understand that sometimes lying can be the right thing to do, it doesn't make logical sense to lie but because we are human and there are justifiable human reasons to do it whether that is to spare someone's feelings, assuage fears or protect them for painful truths.

[–] prixat (21) 6 years ago

I don't see your problem, "a hedonistic utilitarian dictator" is literally a description of the Judeo-Christian god.
The rosary the stranger bought with her, and the heavy handed touching of the image of Mary when Mother kills the stranger. Those references to the Virgin Mary indicate to me that that is what Mother modelled herself on.

[–] GordianNott (137) 6 years ago

Good point--I was left wondering why an android would show any interest in a religious shrine.

[–] asom (6884) 6 years ago

Mother is God 2.0. It's beyond good and evil. Loved the religious shrine at the end (although lately i thought about the correlation)

Daughter is Noe 2.0.

Plain and simple.

[–] GordianNott (137) 6 years ago

Hmmm. Convenient to have that ship there--Noah's Ark? (not literally, just the symbolism)

[–] JoWilli (21521) 6 years ago

was she hot?...