Studio: 20th Century Studios
Release Date: 12/12/2023
Rating: PG-13
Film Grade: C-
The Story: It’s war! Mankind has decided to recklessly pursue AI, and Los Angeles has been hit by a nuclear weapon as a result. Nations are fractured – the Western world divorces itself from artificial intelligence, while the Eastern world embraces it.
The USA builds a high-altitude superweapon, code named NOMAD, to hunt down Nirmata, the primary developer of the AI threat. But intelligence forces believe Nirmata is developing a counter weapon, Alpha O, to destroy NOMAD. The race is on.
Thrown into this is our hero, Joshua Taylor, who had been working undercover five years earlier to try and find Nirmata. He believed that his wife was killed in an unfortunate raid of his home back then, which has continued to haunt him. But a visit from the military provides evidence that she may have survived. Will he help them find Nirmata if it means he could once again be reunited with his wife?
My Take: This film starts out with a relevant and intriguing story hook. We’re being bombarded everyday with stories of AI and this movie takes it to the next step. How much power are humans willing to turn over to AI? How about the blending of AI with humanized robots that are modeled after real people? What role can these simulants fill in society?
Unfortunately, that aspect of the movie is treated more like set dressing, and not really explored. It plays a part, but the themes are secondary to the action and the hokey emotional element that’s introduced about a third of the way into the movie.
The action scenes and execution aren’t strong enough to carry the movie. Most of them don’t make a lot of sense, and you have characters surviving deadly attacks that shouldn’t be possible. They go on for too long and feel like gimmicky cheats.
David Washington plays Taylor and is really good in the role. He gives that character heart and motivation. Allison Janney is a pleasant surprise as the colonel supervising the operation to find Nirmata. It’s too bad the cast wasn’t given more to work with.
I really enjoyed director Gareth Edwards’s earlier film, Monsters. A low budget production that centered around two people trying to escape the attack of gigantic creatures reminiscent of H. P. Lovecraft’s works, the movie was centered on the human parts of the story. Contrast that approach with this movie, where exploring characters is certainly an element of the movie, but only secondary to the action and technological aspects. Edwards is also known for directing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, although how much is was really responsible for remains open to debate and speculation. That movie had a good balance between action and character, and I wish Edwards had taken that approach here.
Video: For those of us that have adjustable masking, this movie makes the most of it. With an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, there’s a real need to blacken those unused parts. I really liked the look of this movie. The special effects are convincing and appear natural. The simulants are uncanny to look at, and the military/police robots are properly menacing. Matching that with the location shots from Thailand, give it an authentic feel. The visuals don’t disappoint in the least.
Audio: While the 4K disc sports an Atmos mix, the lowly Blu-ray only gets the 7.1 DTS-HDMA treatment. It’s too bad, because there are some nice sound and environmental effects in the mix that likely would have been enhanced by the additional speakers. Still, it’s a good mix, even if there aren’t any amazing “wow” moments. One wonders if the sound mixers are as disappointed as we are that the best version of their work doesn’t make it to the Blu-ray disc.
Special Features: I did not have time to watch this, so can offer no comment.
- True Love: Making The Creator
Final Verdict: Where will AI lead us, if we allow it? An intriguing concept, ripe for exploration. While easy to dismiss the idea of AI driven robots becoming human companions, one only has to look at today’s developing market for simple AI chatbots. Always at the ready to offer their owners an emotional support system, it’s not hard to see how melding that with a realistic simulant body might be a siren’s song too hard for people to resist.
Mix that with the intellectual part of AI where people can ask the most complex and complicated question and get an answer that probably sounds plausible, and you have an entirely different concern. What happens to society when its citizens are more than happy to surrender their critical thinking skills to a computer program or interwoven network of programs?
The movie seems like it wants to explore those ideas, but gets sidetracked by the espionage and war element, which we’ve seen handled much better in other movies. And instead of a cautionary tale probing the lines between humanity and programming, it takes a left turn into the land of transhumanism.
Hopefully, this doesn’t make the film sound too heady, because they aren’t a vital part of the film. You’ll have to do that questing on your own, as it’s little more than window dressing to the lack-luster plot.
Visually, it’s fun to watch, but there just isn’t enough to the film to keep it entertaining or make it memorable. If you have Hulu, it may be part of your streaming package right now, offering a risk-free way to check it out.
Fun Quote: “Oh. We don't have that in the fridge. How about ice cream?”
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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