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| AI: Artificial Intelligence |
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| Movies,
Justin Harries,
02:00:00,
01 October 2001 |
Rating: F2
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The hopes for misery meister extraordinaire Kubrick’s unfulfilled cinematic dream of a future populated by sentient robots eventually fulfilled by sometime saccharine-peddler Spielberg never boded well.
OK, the Spielberg we’ve seen recently has been concerned more with gassing little girls and the effect of high calibre weaponry upon American infantry men – not exactly cuddly kitty material – but Spielberg lacks Kubrick’s deathly inhuman touch, far too much touchy feely gooyness. The fact that AI was intended to be a futuristic updating of the Pinocchio fairytale certainly did not dispel fears of ensuing tweeness.
Sectioned into three acts, AI tells of a future compromised by global warming, where robots are in high demand due to the lack of resources necessitated for their survival. One particularly insightful robot-manufacturing company embark on the development of a “loving” child – enter David, the bright-as-a-button sim-kid. The first recipients of this new breed of automata are a couple who’s actual kid is deep in cryogenic sleep due to an incurable illness. At first creeped out by sim-kid, they come to embrace him as their own flesh and blood, but complications arise when the actual kid wakes up and returns home. Good night David.
The second act concerns the world at large, with David searching for a way to become human and therefore return home, aided by sex-bot gigolo Joe. Here we are exposed to the full horrors of the futuristic distopia, including the much vaulted Flesh Fair – sort of a monster truck show with Ministry playing in concert – the future’s not going to be so bad afterall. Anyway, with much mooching, David has his hopes shattered and ends up pleading with a figurine in a submerged Coney Island. Good place to end you think – hang on, this is only the end of the second act – there’s another bloody 20 minutes to go.
20 minutes. 20 minutes of the most nauseating, arse-squirming shite you are ever likely to see at your nearest multiplex. Set 2000 years after David’s stare-out competition, humans have finally kicked the can, leaving robotic Harold Moor sculptures in their wake. The future-bots reanimate David and, being awfully nice robots, grant a portion of his dream true – a lovely day with mummy, resurrected for one day, and one day only – get ‘em while they’re hot!
A large portion of this movie is entirely pointless. Any interesting questions are raised in the first section – the responsibilities of creating sentient artificial life, the gradual indifferentiation of commodity and authenticity. From then on it’s future shock by numbers, Spielberg’s distopia is rather to tempered, unconvincing, not harsh enough by far, and contains Robin Williams. OK the future really is fucked. The main problem by far is the rehashing of the fairytale, which clashes unproductively with the hard SF aspects of the movie – what is the point in setting up philosophical dilemmas if you’re going to resolve them with the swish of a fairy’s wand.
If Kubrick had actually made this movie, I hope he would have dealt with the issues raised – of course instead we get gut wrenching of the most nauseating kind.
UK rating:
12
US rating:
PG-13
Director: Stephen Spielberg
Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards, William Hurt
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