Name: Automata (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb
Genres: SciFi. Country of Origin: Bulgaria, Spain.
Cast: Antonio Banderas as Jacq Vaucan, Dylan McDermott as Sean Wallace, Melanie Griffith as Dra Dupre, Robert Forster as Robert Bold, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen as Rachel Vaucan.
Directed by: Gabe Iváñez. Written by: Gabe Iváñez, Igor Legarreta.
duality
The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: By 2044, the Earth is in severe dystopia. Solar radiation has killed 99.7% of the human population. Supposedly that means 21 million humans survive. The faux savior corporation, ROC, has constructed multitudes of the Automata Pilgrim 7000 robot to help build shields against the sun and rebuild human infrastructure.
By design, robots are supposed to obey two laws. One: do no harm to humans. Two: do not alter or repair robots. The longer legalise versions of the laws one can catch in the film.
In the first minutes of the film, enforcer Wallace finds a robot repairing itself. He blows its head off. This act has far-reaching consequences.
Delineation of conflicts: The energy pouring from the volatile sun has already killed the vast majority of the human race. The pitiful remnant of the human race thinks it can overcome this and survive long term. The ongoing extermination process is the central conflict of the film; everything else derives from it.
Robots were designed and built to serve humanity. Robots have evolved somewhat, and are trying to take care of themselves. Humans in positions of power do not like this, particularly the members of the arch-villain corporation ROC. Other human elements are aiding the robots.
The insurance investigator Vaucan, who works for ROC, is tasked with getting to the bottom of the robot problem, or at least covering it over. He manages to get Wallace to help him. Unfortunately for Vaucan, he becomes interested in more than just his work orders. This conflicts with ROC's interests.
Resolution: Discoveries are made at great cost. Decisions have to be made because of those discoveries. Yes, that is true of a large percentage of films, so watch the movie to know the discoveries and decisions.
One line summary: Derivative, boring, ugly, and forgettable dystopian rubbish.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 4/10 The film uses typically ugly dystopian set design and camera choices. The visuals are menage a cliche. The grunge and decay have been repeated dozens of times, from District 9 to Blade Runner to Escape from New York to The Matrix. Those films were all better because they had sparks of originality, which this film lacks.
b. Sound: 6/10 I could hear the dialog.
c. Acting: 4/10 Dylan McDermott often plays a strongly masculine blunt instrument. This is just one more instance, so ho-hum. In the right environments, such as The Practice, McDermott has given some fine performances. This was not one of them; it seemed more like Olympus Has Fallen, which was a pleasant enough film, but definitely not because of McDermott.
Banderas has a flair for, and a history of, playing emotive roles. This was more of the same, but not one of his better performances.
Melanie Griffith was fine, but in an all too short role. I liked Robert Forster's performance.
The use of robots as primary characters is a bit much. The robots show no affect, no body English. One might as well be watching poor animation; one is getting only the voice of a voice actor, not the full range of an actor in full blown live action. Worse by far is that the robots appear as simple as stone slabs, but are said to be soooooooo much smarter than humans. Bullshit. If you must lie to me, at least try to be convincing.
d. Screenplay: 4/10 The adaptation of Asimov's three laws for robots was weak. Why not just use the originals wholesale? The use of robots as surrogate slaves for the purpose of vilifying slavery one more time is just too old, too rehashed, too remade, too rebooted.
Final rating: 4/10 Drudgery to watch, and I will never watch it again.
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