Subject: Review: A.I. (2001)

From: "JoBlo" <[email-masked]>
Date: 7 Jul 2001 03:45:34 GMT

A.I.
RATING: 8/10

For more reviews and movie trailers, visit http://www.joblo.com/

PLOT:
Can human beings create robots that will be able to love? That is the 
question that besieges this entire film. A young robot-child is given to 
a real human family. The family attempts to love the child as their own, 
but when their real-life son returns, the jealousy of the real child 
eventually leads the parents to get rid of the robot-child. Left alone 
and in the woods, the young robot sets out on a journey to find a way to 
become real.

CRITIQUE:
In one of the most ambitious films of the year, Steven Spielberg has 
managed to successfully wrestle several key elements together, including 
a great story, amazing visuals, a futuristic landscape, solid acting, 
and emerge with a picture that entertains, touches the heart and digs 
below the surface. It's funny because we tend to take Mr. Spielberg for 
granted from time to time, seeing him more for the movie "businessman" 
that he has become over the past few years, but leave it to him to take 
such a sprawling project, begun by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick 
and then continued by him (they used to fax each other notes and stuff), 
and create an amazing vision to drive the imagination. But Spielberg's 
grown up, too. He tackles big issues in this film. What is love? What is 
emotion? Why does it suck to be lonely? Emotions and queries that we can 
all relate to in one way or another. And even though this film is 
essentially about a "robot", you can't help but draw comparisons and 
connections to moments from your own life, moments in which you felt 
lonely or hurt or let down or misguided. The truth behind this film is 
that it's really about humans...not robots. The cruelty of some humans. 
The love and kindness of others. The world has become a harsh place for 
many people to inhabit, and sometimes our own ability to shut down our 
emotional core enables us to survive from day to day. But doesn't that 
negate what being a human being is all about? Living, feeling, loving 
and even getting hurt? I don't know.

I'm philosophizing out of my ass here, but I think that the power of 
this film, its greater strength, other than its engaging narrative and 
visual delights, is its capacity to harness that deep-rooted fear in all 
humans. That fear of being alone. That fear of not having anybody love 
you. That fear of not mattering in someone else's life. The journey of 
the robot-child in this film is the journey of which many of us are 
presently a part. Will we be happy in our lives? Will we be loved? Will 
our own love be returned by those whom we cherish? Questions that reside 
in our subconscious, and questions that have suddenly imprinted 
themselves in the mind of the robot-child in this film. And will his 
journey end on a happy note? A sad note? Well, being that this film is 
indeed a collaboration between one of the most optimistic moviemakers of 
our time, Steven Spielberg, and one of the most pessimistic in Stanley 
Kubrick, I'll let you figure that one out yourself. I will say this much 
though, I personally would've liked to have seen the movie end right 
after the robot-child went underwater in the heli-sub and hovered before 
the blue fairy (if you haven't seen the movie, this may not mean 
anything to you, but to all those who have, you know what I'm talking 
about). I would definitely have preferred that type of resolution to the 
film, but then again, I'm not necessarily the most "happy-go-lucky" 
person in the world. Also, I felt like the final 15-20 minutes of the 
film, ran it all a little longer than it needed to be.

Emotionally, this film also delivers with two of the three members of my 
own "movie watching crew" bawling their goggles out (sorry, I tinkered 
with my own tears, but didn't go balls-out on them). It's to note that 
this emotional touch could not have been attained as poignantly had it 
not been for the inspired thespianism (that a word?) displayed here by 
Haley Joel Osment, who has seriously impressed me at this point of his 
young career. A superb, loving, real performance which drives the film's 
significance that much deeper. Add Jude Law to that mix, as well as one 
of the coolest toys to ever have been invented named Teddy (give this 
damn bear his own movie!), and you've got a serious recipe for 
greatness. Yes, I thought the film was a little long, it didn't touch me 
as deeply as I thought it might and I would have preferred another 
ending, but those are all very small flaws in an overall sturdier 
picture that definitely needs to be considered for addition to the great 
sci-fi films from both Spielberg and Kubrick's pasts (it was also nice 
to see the many hommages which Spielberg tossed in here, including to 
his own E.T., CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, Lucas' STAR WARS and Kubrick's CLOCKWORK 
ORANGE). In the end, the film strives for so much more than most movies 
coming out these days, that you just can't help but sit up and take 
notice. And once you do sit up and pay attention, you will be enthralled 
by the imagination of it all, the strength of its narrative, its 
emotional spirit and its unique ability to combine great visuals, great 
acting and great insight into the human condition.

Where's JoBlo coming from?
Bicentennial Man (6/10) - Dark City (9/10) - Existenz (8/10) - Eyes Wide 
Shut (6/10) The Fly (8/10) -  Mission to Mars (3/10) - The Sixth Sense 
(8/10)

Review Date: June 29, 2001
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Bonnie Curtis
Actors: Haley Joel Osment as David Swinton
Jude Law as Gigolo Joe
Frances O'Connor as Monica Swinton
Genre: Sci-Fi
Year of Release: 2001
------------------------------------
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
http://www.joblo.com/
------------------------------------
(c) 2001 Berge Garabedian

--