Review: A.I Artificial Intelligence

By Jack on 2001-07-02 11:33:26

It's hard to review this movie without spoiling it but I'll try.

There's nothing more frustrating than a posthumous work from your favorite film maker that doesn't quite live up to expectations. In this case it's Stanley Kubrick, who had been working on A.I. for over a decade before his death. Unable to figure out what, exactly, to do with the intriguing storyline from Brian Aldiss' story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," Kubrick passed it off to Spielberg, who originally declined to helm the project, only to reverse his opinion once Kubrick died.

That's not important, or not very important, anyway. What is of note is the fact that what we're left with -- Kubrick or no -- is a muddled, messy disaster of a film, something that seems more like a drastically edited miniseries, cut down to incomprehensible levels with whole sections missing.

This movie was basically what you would get if you were to mix E.T., Close Encounters and Blade Runner with Disney's Pinocchio (that's right I said Disney) into an Outer Limits episode.

The characters were for the most part (in my opinion) cliche', very "hollywoodized" and uninteresting (with the possible exception of Jude Law's character (Gigolo Joe)).

Overall story line was trying so hard to be on "the dark side" that it was funny. It also seemed as it was 3 different stories, all of which were going nowhere. By the end, the audience is practically being spat upon with nonsensical, 2001-wannabe metaphysics and general weirdness that goes on and on without end. Ultimately, what should have been a pleasant fable becomes an overambitious mess that slips from potential greatness into imminent forgettability. For what it's worth, the entire movie evoked laughter and snickering from the audience, but only the last act brought out the real hecklers.

I don't want to knock A.I. down completely. Law is a fantastic supporting player, giving A.I. the levity it needs during Act 2. The effects are fantastic, and while the science of A.I. is dubious, it's future is believable and spooky.

Conclusion: Watching this movie I didn't feel like money was being wasted but rather time (A.I. is 2 1/2 hrs). I give A.I Artificial Intelligence a 6/10 rating.

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