Autómata
Millennium Films, Green Moon, Nu Boyana Viburno, Bulgaria, USA, Spain, Canada, 2014.
2044 AD. Solar radiation has increased and the deserts surrounding the cities are radioactive. (Solar storms just do not work that way, however it is later explained that failed tests with nuclear energy caused the radioactivity.) The radiation has reduced the human population to 21 million. The remaining humans use Automata Pilgrim 7000 robots to do their work. The robots obey loosely Asimov's laws, they
1) can not harm living things and
2) they can not alter themselves.
The surviving lucky ones live in walled cities with blimps that create artificial clouds. The unlucky ones live in the surrounding ghettoes.
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| Automata Pilgrim 7000 robot |
Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) is burned out insurance inspector working for robot manufacturing ROC company. His wife Rachel (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is having a baby. Cop Sean Wallace (Dylan McDermott) shoots a robot that learned to repair itself. The autopsy reveals that it was heavily modified by "Clocksmith" for smuggling illegal parts. Vaucan wants a transfer to a more peaceful city near sea. First he must someone responsible for the mess.
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| Jacq Vaucan |
 |
| Rachel Vaucan |
 |
| Sean Wallace |
When Wallace breaks a modified pleasure bot named Cleo, Vaucan meets mechanic Dr. Dupre (Melanie Griffith). Vaucan asks Dupre to research the bio-kernel of the self repairing robot. Soon assassins target Vaucan and Cleo. Then Vaucan finds himself in the desert talking philosophy with his new robot pals.
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| Cleo |
 |
| Dr. Dupre |
 |
| Vaucan meets the robots |
"Blade Runner", "A.I", "Animatrix", "Ghost in the Shell" and "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence". All great movies pondering the differences, similarities, interaction of humans and artificial life. Add also dash of "Mad Max"- series and "I Robot." Those influences I was thinking for the first half hour. Is what is called soul limited to carbon based lifeforms, or is it an emergent feature that appears when the data processing unit is complex enough?
Technically the movie looks good, with "Blade Runner"-style post-apocalyptic city, and robots that look like real mechanical robots and not just something made with pixels. Although the starting point is good it lacks something to make it a great hardcore scifi classic. In the second half plot-holes and clumsiness in the storytelling break the mood. There is interesting stuff about evolution and lifespan of species but it does not go quite deep enough before the final showdown starts. Luckily the action does not go overboard with special effects and the style stays quite realistic and minimal.
Technically the movie looks good, with "Blade Runner"-style post-apocalyptic city, and robots that look like real mechanical robots and not just something made with pixels. Although the starting point is good it lacks something to make it a great hardcore scifi classic. In the second half plot-holes and clumsiness in the storytelling break the mood. There is interesting stuff about evolution and lifespan of species but it does not go quite deep enough before the final showdown starts. Luckily the action does not go overboard with special effects and the style stays quite realistic and minimal.
The human characters are not very interesting, and for example Rachel's part is quite small and not very well realised. The bad guys are just one-dimensional baddies. It does not help that one interesting character is killed early in the movie. However it is more interesting to see what the robots are doing. In the underrated Robin Williams' movie "Bicentennial Man" robot named Andrew struggled to become a human. In "Autómata" the robots try to evolve beyond humanity, finally abandoning the primitive imitation of human form. The robots also try to understand arts and culture to maintain the memory of doomed humans.
So it is not perfect despite all the potential. There was also problem with Ibáñez's previous movie "Hierro" where the atmospheric first half was flattened by clichés and over-explaining twists in the second half. Still "Autómata" is smarter and better than most scifi-films today, but it could have been much better.
So it is not perfect despite all the potential. There was also problem with Ibáñez's previous movie "Hierro" where the atmospheric first half was flattened by clichés and over-explaining twists in the second half. Still "Autómata" is smarter and better than most scifi-films today, but it could have been much better.
Rating: 
Good
Good
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Griffith, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Robert Forster, Tim McInnerny, David Ryall, Javier Bardem (voice), Boris Kabakchiev, Lyubomir Neikov, Krasimir Kutsurapov, Anton Lamrev, Geraldine Somerville, Harry Anichkin, Stanislav Pishtalov, Daniela Dancheva, Danny Kirrane, Christina Tam, Andrew Tiernan, Benjamin Phillips, Andy Nyman, David Koral, Micah Phillips, Christa Campbell, Tim Barlow, Philip Rosch, Hristo Mitzkov, Darianna Krasteva, Valentina Ivanova, Anton Trendafilov, Stoyan Angelov, Velizar Velizarov, Bashar Rahal, Dan Cade, Albena Stavreva, Carla Rodrigo, Alejandro Serna, Dimitar Ilkov
Director: Gabe Ibáñez
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