Subject: Review: A.I. (2001)

From: Christopher Null <[email-masked]>
Date: 7 Jul 2001 03:44:13 GMT

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com

I remember sitting in a movie theater at the tender age of 14, watching
a little film called D.A.R.Y.L., about a boy with a computer brain
trying to cope with modern society and questions of emotion and
identity.  D.A.R.Y.L. was not some overblown, 2 1/2-hour ordeal.  It was
99 breezy minutes of fun fun fun!

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is, too my deep dismay, neither breezy nor
particularly fun.  The level of anticipation of the film, of course,
would be impossible to effectively sate, but A.I. just doesn't cut it. 
It doesn't even come close.

The mystery-enshrouded story is told obliquely, in fleeting glances of
half-explained scenes.  Presumably we are meant to absorb the rich, rich
atmosphere of the film, and for a long while, this works.  But as a
result, much of A.I. is cryptic at best, so you'll have to forgive any
wandering plot descriptions.

In the future, the icecaps have melted, population controls are rampant,
and of course people turn to machines for love.  A.I. is the story of a
boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), not a real boy, of course, but an
artificially intelligent robot who has been programmed to love -- the
first of his kind.  "Mecha" robots coexist with "Orga" humans in a
crowded dystopia, so when Henry Swinton (Sam Robards) brings the first
David model home to his wife Monica (Frances O'Connor), who is grieving
over a mysteriously ill son, she freaks out but eventually develops a
guarded affection for David.  When the son in question returns to them
(equally unexplained), things come to a head, and the robot boy finds
himself a bit of an outcast, a machine that loves people but is not
loved in return.

Without giving away too many plot points, suffice it to say that David
ends up on an adventure throughout the greater New Jersey area,
encountering such characters as the megalomaniacal Gigolo Joe (Jude
Law), a "love robot" with all the attendant baggage, and Professor Hobby
(William Hurt), David's creator and a scientist with a bad God complex.

As David wanders from the safety of home to the wilds of the big city
and eventually, an underwater Manhattan, his journey is inspired by that
of the original robot boy, Pinocchio.  But Pinocchio is more than an
inspiration for the film, it quickly becomes the entire plot, as David
searches for the story's "blue fairy" to turn him into a real boy.  His
robotic teddy bear is a latter-day Jiminy Cricket.  He encounters
villains and even a theme park, much like our animated hero.

Sadly, this becomes an enormous crutch for Spielberg, as the search for
the blue fairy saves him from having to write a real movie.  Spielberg
earnestly apes Kubrick to a fault (he even credits the film to him in
part, a dubious honor I doubt the late genius would have appreciated). 
A Clockwork Orange and, of course, 2001 are strong influences,
particularly in set design.  Later in the picture, Blade Runner is an
obvious reference point.  By the end, Spielberg is ripping off his own
E.T. and Close Encounters, and the jumble of stolen plots, sets, and
characters becomes so daunting the film degenerates into utter nonsense.

The Kubrick connection is worth a little extra ink, because A.I., we
should all remember, is Spielberg's resurrection of a film that Kubrick
had essentially abandoned years ago.  Why he didn't make it we'll never
know, but if the scraps of story Spielberg has woven together in this
movie are any indication of where he was headed, Kubrick was wise to
drop the thing.  As for Spielberg, the sole writer credited for the
film, it is also worth noting that he hasn't even worked on a movie
screenplay since collaborating on The Goonies in 1985.

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 groundbreaking and phenomenal, and while the science of A.I.
is dubious, its dystopic future is believable and spooky.

But it's the three mini-movies within A.I. that make it so hard to sit
through.  The first (David at home) is excellent.  The second (David in
the big city) is fair.  The third (David's quest for infinity and
beyond) is unwatchable.  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.  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.

Mr. Spielberg, your love is real.  Your movie, sadly, is not.

RATING:  ***

|------------------------------|
 \ ***** Perfection             \
  \ **** Good, memorable film    \
   \ *** Average, hits and misses \
    \ ** Sub-par on many levels    \
     \ * Unquestionably awful       \
      |------------------------------|

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Director: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
Writer: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards,
Jake Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, Daveigh Chase, William Hurt, Jack Angel

http://aimovie.warnerbros.com/

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