Subject: Review: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

From: Bob Bloom <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 02:32:22 -0000

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Haley Joel
Osment, Jude Law, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt, Sam Robards and Frances
O'Connor. Music by John Williams. Based on a short story by Brian Aldiss. Based
on a screenplay by Ian Watson. Screenplay by Steven Spielberg. Directed by
Spielberg. Rated PG-13 

It is easy to see why the late Stanley Kubrick believed Steven Spielberg would
be the perfect director for his A.I. Artificial Intelligence, just as it is
understandable why Spielberg was attracted to the material. 

For here we have another lost boy trying to find his way home, an outcast
seeking family, themes very familiar from most of Spielberg's body of work from
Sugarland Express to Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T. to Empire of the
Sun to Hook to Saving Private Ryan, naming just a few examples. 

A.I. is set in an undefined near future in which giant technological advances
have led to the creation of robots who serve every purpose from housekeeping to
fulfilling sexual fantasies. It is an era when robots are treated merely as
sophisticated appliances. 

The last great leap in robotic evolution is the addition of emotions, and with
the number of births limited by the government, many couples are yearning for
children. 

And Professor Hobby (William Hurt) has the solution. A robotic boy named David
(Haley Joel Osment), who is programmed to love. As a test, David is placed with
Henry Swinton (Sam Robards) and his wife, Monica (Frances O'Connor). Their
natural-born son has been cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found for his
illness. 

The first third of A.I. deals with David's life with the Swintons and how that
is changed by the recovery and return of their son, Martin. 

Circumstances force David to be cut off from the Swintons. He is abandoned and
alone. David, highly influenced by the fairy tale, Pinocchio, feels that if he
becomes a real boy he can rekindle Monica's love for him. 

The film's second act follows David's search for The Blue Fairy, whom he
believes will be able to fulfill his wish. During these adventures he meets and
is helped by Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a robot who specializes in sex. 

Spielberg is at his top form in this sequence, offering a brutal "Flesh Fair"
where robots are destroyed via sadistic methods for the amusement of paying
customers. 

Here, is where Kubrick's influence is strongly felt, as the movie explores the
fear and distrust humans have for robots. The savagery conjures up images from
the late director's A Clockwork Orange. 

At about two hours and 30 minutes, the film begins to falter during the last 20
minutes, a sequence that seems most Spielbergian with images that appear to be
borrowed from Close Encounters. 

It is all very anti-climatic and jarring. These scenes seem almost superfluous,
as if from a different film. 

A.I. is a dark fairy tale that deserves its PG-13 rating. It is a story
combining hope and intolerance, sacrifice and bigotry, and while it does not
coalesce perfectly, the movie does offer some disturbing images. 

But  A.I. is really a showcase for the acting talents of the amazing young
Osment. If ever an actor deserved an Academy Award nomination, it is this lad,
who brings a sense of joy and wonder to the role of David, a being created for
the express purpose of loving. 

He shines when with Monica, beaming with love, as eager as a puppy to please.
After being left in the woods, he is confused, lost, hurt, focusing on one
objective: To become a real boy and find his way home so he can redeem himself
in his mother's eyes. 

Law is pleasant as the care-free robot who really doesn't understand David's
quest, but is nonetheless happy to help him on his journey. 

Probably the toughest role is O'Connor's Monica. Playing an emotional fragile
woman who sees David as a substitute for her lost Martin, she grows conflicted
after her boy returns and she begins to perceive David not as a second chance,
but as a threat to her family. 

She gives her character enough emotional chaos that you cannot fault her for her
course of action. 

Many of A.I.'s futuristic sets are breathtaking, especially a mostly submerged
New York, lost to the world by the melting of the polar ice caps. 

A.I. is a flawed film, and you cannot get through the entire feature without
pondering - even subconsciously - how it would have turned out with Kubrick
instead of Spielberg behind the camera. Would it have been darker? More cynical?
We will never know. 

We can only judge what is before us on the screen, a collaboration of two
cinematic giants. A.I. is a most interesting and thought-provoking examination
of a future that is quickly gaining on us. 

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can
be reached by e-mail at [email-masked] or at [email-masked].
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on
golafayette. 
Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom 

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X-RT-RatingText: 3/4