From the moment I heard of A.I., I wanted to see it. Science
fiction - about a robot, no less. I used to spend hours dreaming of
building my own robot, and I even tried to start the project a few times
before realizing that this was something way beyond my grasp. There is
something very intriguing about the idea of an artificially created
being wishing to be real. Short Circuit remains one of my all-time favorite comedies, and Data was always my favorite character in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Robots have always fascinated me. There was also Steven Spielberg. I don't like all Spielberg movies - I hated Saving Private Ryan - but usually they have a great deal of heart and ultimately leave me feeling good. But the main reason for wanting to see A.I.
was, I'll admit it, Haley Joel Osment. I finally have an answer to that "Who's your favorite actor?" question, and I can't wait to see what he
does in the future. I'm hooked on this guy for life.
So, I was determined to see A.I.,
even though I heard bad things about it from all directions. I intended
to see it in the theater, but it came while I was out of the country.
So when I returned, I awaited its arrival in the dollar theater. It
came, and my friend and I said we would go see it that week. That was
the second week of September, and it never happened. I think perhaps it
is good that I did not see it at that time. As much as I wanted to see Castaway,
when I found out I was going to England I did not want to watch it
until I had arrived safely home. I had no such forewarning about A.I.,
but if I had seen this film on September 9th or 10th, I think it would
have driven me over the edge. Watching it now was eerie enough.
The movie is a joint project of Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick, the far less warm and fuzzy director of 2001 and Dr. Strangelove fame. Based on the short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long,
it takes place sometimes in the future, after global warming has caused
the icecaps to melt and flood many of the world?s major cities. In
order to accommodate the needs of a new age, the leading scientists
create androids who appear fully human but cannot feel emotion. This
changes with the creation of David, an android in the form of a child
programmed to love. David is given to a couple, Monica (Frances
O'Connor) and Henry (Sam Robards), whose son Martin (Jake Thomas) is in a
cryogenic coma while doctors seek a cure for his medical condition. By
speaking a series of seven words, Monica imprints herself upon David,
causing him to take on the eternal mantra of I Only Have Eyes for You, a song repeated several times throughout the film in another context.
David's obsession with his mother makes him a prime candidate for the
Oedipus complex, as do his interactions with Henry and Martin, who
recovers from his mysterious disease. I was reminded of Harry Potter
briefly, between David's being locked in the closet at one point and
the dreadful treatment given him by his "brother." At any rate, David
becomes the outsider shortly after Martin's return, and Monica feels
forced to dispose of this monster she helped to create. Releasing him
into the woods with Teddy (Jack Angel), Martin's outdated supertoy that
is reminiscent of Teddy Ruxpin, Monica makes David, a "mecha," promise
to avoid people, who are "orga." David is left crestfallen but
determined to win his mother's love by seeking out the Blue Fairy and
asking to become a real boy.
The journey is dark and
depressing, and his only friends throughout most of the journey are the
wizened Teddy and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a quirky character programmed
to be a lady-killer. Others pass through momentarily, including a robot
nanny (Clara Bellar), a human child (the little girl from the Disney
Scrabble commercial) and the Einstein-like hologram Dr. Know (Robin
Williams sounding a lot like his earlier Genie). A cozy-sounding
narrator (Ben Kingsley) whose voice begins and ends the movie provides a
fairy-tale context, albeit a very dark one.
Osment is
haunting as David, turning in a performance no less fine than I
expected. He is passionate, he is tormented, and yet he is clearly
mechanical. A very unnerving characterization. The other character I
most enjoyed was Teddy, the gruff but gentle companion of David
throughout the journey. Gigolo Joe was slightly off-putting at first but
ultimately I found him pretty entertaining, and the trick he has of
providing ambiance is quite nifty. I also enjoyed the manic Dr. Know.
But that was about it.
The other characters did not move me,
not even Monica. She annoyed me, actually. Something about her did not
seem right, did not seem real. She failed to move me, and her dialogue
was at times dreadful. (Example: Upon being told by her husband that she
must be sure before she lets David imprint on her, she says, "Silly
man, of course I'm not sure." Silly man?? Give me a break.) David
seemed to show more emotion than she did, and when she did it seemed
forced. I just could not bring myself to care about her. Her husband
Henry comes across as wishy-washy, stupid, and mean-spirited. Above all,
he seems extremely selfish. Her sadistic son Martin is a horror, as are
his friends. The birthday party scene reminds me a lot of the party
scene from The Sixth Sense. Haley definitely carries the day, and more than anything he is disconcerting.
This movie was no E.T. My dad complained because of the lack of dialogue. This was one of his major complaints with E.T., and he felt that A.I.
also failed to have enough talking. This time, John Williams' score did
not seem to annoy him as much, however. He thought the music in E.T.
to be sickeningly saccharine. I never saw the sparseness of speech to
be a problem for the former, so it didn't really bother me in the
latter, either. A friend of mine forewarned me that while he thought the
movie was pretty good up to a point, the ending spoiled the social
commentary. If he was able to make enough sense out of this movie to
see a social commentary and to tell that the ending shattered it, I
salute him. I was never entirely sure what was going on and how I was
supposed to feel about it. It definitely did not make me feel good like E.T. did. In fact, it sent cold shivers down my spine on a number of occasions.
One painfully long scene in the film involves David's being captured
and taken to a Flesh Fair, a ghastly gladiator-like spectacle with the
motto "a celebration of life." Androids are rounded up for these events
and tortured in the arena before a bloodthirsty mob in the stands. It
was a horrifying sight reminding me of the gruesome garage in The Brave Little Toaster.
That movie still gives me the willies... The Flesh Fair provides
nightmare material for a week, and it's not the only disturbing part of
this movie. It's dark and depressing at every turn, and its extended
ending (my friend also pointed out, and I definitely agree, that the
movie felt like it should have ended about 20 minutes before it did) did
nothing to salvage the warm and fuzzy feeling I was hoping to get. It
left me dazed, disoriented, and down in the doldrums.
Add to
that the scenes of a Manhattan flattened by floods, with just Lady
Liberty's arm rising above the waves and the Twin Towers lording over
the ruined city. New York City virtually destroyed. And, at one point,
David leaping from the top of a building, and a shot of him plummeting
to the waters below in a scene that looked far too much like those
scenes of the WTC jumpers for comfort. It was all a little too eerie for
me to say that I enjoyed the movie very much.
And yet, perhaps that sense of eeriness is what was intended. Though A.I.
did not give me the reaction I had hoped for, it did produce a strong
visceral reaction. Strange pairing that it was, the film made excellent
use of Osment's talents and the available technology to give a glimpse
of a possible future. And so I cautiously commend it and award it four
stars. But it leaves me uneasy and hoping that Gene Roddenberry's vision
of the future was more accurate than this. Please, Lord, tell me this
is not where we are headed!
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