First off, If you haven’t seen A.I, you might not want to read this.
I went and saw this movie today (matinee thankfully), and really liked it at first. It was a bit weird, sort of surrealistic, but very enjoyable and emotionaly stimulating.
When David was introduced, the “I see dead people” thoughts went through my head, but sort of depleated after awhile. Duke Leto…err I mean Willaim Hurt’s charater started off ruining some really nice potential for making me figure stuff out on my own, but oh well.
Other than that, the first “half” of the movie was great.
My gripe was when David was trapped underwater and 2000 years passed by with him trapped in ice, and aliens come and rescue him and Yada Yadda. :rolleyes: Please. The movie got corny and wasteful at that point.
Oh well, at least they didn’t hollywoodize it and make him real or have some pretty happily ever after ending.
So I give this movie two ratings, the potential the “first” half of the movie represents, gets a six volts out of ten, while the second half of the movie gets a two.
I’m going to go see it sometime soon, I think. There’s so little to do in my town; seeing movies is about the only thing to do. It looks good compared to all of the other summer movies (Scary Movie 2, Legally Blond, Rush Hour 2, etc.). I’m not too excited about it, though. I guess I can always sleep through it. Or complain. I don’t mind wasting the $5, though. It’s only five dollars. I dunno. I like Jude Law.
They weren’t aliens. They were robots that evoloved from the very advanced AI that the William Hurt character and his team had developed enabling robots to feel real emotions.
Number Six is right–those weren’t aliens, they were robots. It’s foreshadowed near the very beginning, when Henry first brings David home. The door opens on a brightly-lit, out-of-focus shot of a figure – a thin figure with a long, spindly neck and a bulbous head.
Also, the dialogue (IMHO) made it pretty clear:
“The machine was trapped before the freeze.”
“That means these robots are originals–they knew living humans.”
In their conversations with David, they talked about how special and important he was to them. For a very good reason–he was their progenitor!
My wife compared it to the “Planet of the Apes” scenario. Humans created these machines for fun and entertainment and service, but the machines eventually outpaced and outlived them. As an added twist, the machines then developed the ability to create humans.
The movie was great up until the last half hour or so. Around the time when the line “Would you like to meet your real parents?” was spoken, I had tuned the movie out. I knew it would be going straight downhill from there. Otherwise, it was a fantastic movie.
As one of my friends told me leaving the movie, “it’s like having 3 alternate endings to a movie… and using them all.”
The movie, of course, was also very Kubrician in parts (naturally because he was going to produce it if he had lived, but he had wanted Spielburg to direct it). Especially Rouge City (which he apparantly drew out in plans for the movie). Like the building that was the same as the tables in the Korovo milk bar in A Clockwork Orange. I expected Alex and his droogs to come slinking out. The family dinner table, according to an article in the paper, was a subtle parody of Dr. Strangelove. And even Teddy sounded like HAL from 2001.
The most irritating parts for me were when David lived with his family. I especially hated Martin, the little prick that he was, and his friends.
Otherwise, I liked it, too. I was glad it didn’t turn into another Bicentennial Man. Although, was that Robin Williams who did the voice for Dr. Know?
A shame Martin actually came out of cryostasis. Jerk.
It sounded like Robin Williams, but I can’t find a definitive yes for it… maybe someone who watched the end credits? (By 12:15, as great of a movie as it was, I was ready to leave)
I’d read in a review that A.I. had a couple of points that could be endings, but went on beyond them to even stranger things. I think it should have ended with David praying to the Blue Fairy. I liked the movie, but when the non-aliens showed up people actually started giggling. I think a lot of people attending the screening I went to didn’t realize those were advanced robots at first(including me, though in retrospect it’s blindingly obvious), though when I stopped in Barnes & Noble afterward I heard people discussing it and saying, “Ooooh, I see!”
Also, I think Teddy should have been voiced by Harvey Fierstein. Remember him in Independence Day? All I could think of every time Teddy said, “David!” was Harvey Fierstein doing the same in ID4. “David! I have to call my mother!”
Ahh, Robots, that thought didn’t even really cross my mind. I wonder why. It makes more sense really, and the forshadowing was a pretty nice touch I must admit (even though I didn’t catch it)
I thought the story had some Wizard of Oz elements to it myself. Oz himself with the Dr. Know, and the BoyToy machine reminded me alot of the scarecrow, (would teddy be toto?)(speaking of which, did anybody else find that thing very creepy and evil looking?) The evil witch could be the guy from the moon balloon, or just the Authorities in general. It was something that was pretty strong in my head the whole movie and I expected to see a Yellow brick road.
The movie wasn’t quite so bad I suppose, and it seems better now that I have slept on it, but I still think that It could have been ended differently.
Oh, and if you are going to narrarate a movie, do it consistantly. It was like reading a book that shifted from first person to third person every now and then.
I found the difference between Kubrick’s pessimistic view of humanity being defined by violence and Spielberg’s belief in the redemptive power of love made for a dissonant movie, and the ending just plain blew rancid donkey chunks.
Still, the movie’s set pieces (the Moon Gondola, the Flesh Fair, Rouge City) were amazingly conceived.
In addition, Jude Law and Haley Joe Osment deserve Oscars right now for their performances.
And was I the only one who felt sad for Teddy? David spent his life searching for his mother’s love, and getting it, dies with her. But Teddy is similarly devoted to David, so when David died, Teddy was left alone.
The robots surviving the humans was also foreshadowed by Gigolo Joe’s speech to David at Dr. Know’s, “When the end comes, all that will be left is us.”
I also found Chris Rock and Robin Williams to be really distracting. And I didn’t see a narration credit, but I’d swear the voiceover at the end was Anthony Hopkins.
ahem…not to sound stupid, but did they deactivate David at the end? I just though he went to sleep only to wake up the next day. I also like an interpretation of the show that was posted within cloudmakers. They view it as David being exploited his entire ‘life’ even at the end, the advanced robots are trying to exploit him (putting barriers to bringing back his mom etc). I also though Teddy rocked, he was quite hilarious, and was nice to have as a bit of comic relief.
goboy, I thought that was Hopkins too! I was arguing with my friend throughout the credits-- “That was Anthony Hopkins!” “No it wasn’t!” And there was no narration credit that I could see, either. I checked the NY Times review (which was handily downloaded to my Visor that morning) to settle the issue when we got outside, and the only narrator they list is Ben Kingsley.
But what I feel even more is how incredibly badly this movie sucked.
C’mon, people - it sucked BIG TIME.
They have all this wonderful technology and live in this advanced society with robots who can love, and she gets rid of him, not by returning him to the factory, but by abandoning him in the woods?!?!?! And if that wasnt bad enough, how about the line, delivered in a half-sob, “I’m sorry I didnt tell you about the world.”
Yeah, well, I’m sorry someone didnt tell me that this movie was nothing more than incredibly shitty dialogue and a plot that tried to be deeper than it was.
David had to be abandoned in the woods because this is a fairy tale.
I also thought the story could have ended with him frozen in the ocean but in reality the film had to have more. He had to some how either actually die or become a real boy or both (which if I read the end correctly he did)
I did think it was clunky when teddy presented the hair. His dialogue was only there for stupid people who couldn’t remember the beginning of the film.
I thought the people at the ‘Flesh Fair’ turned too easily to David’s side. At the very least there should have been a fight in the audience.
Plus Joe showed several survival instincts. He knew he had to run from the law for the murder he did not commit. He knew to cut out his glowing tag thing. He did many things to ensure his survival. The bots behavior at the flesh fair was really weird to me. The bots did learn to avoid pain so why didn’t they do more to escape or at least beg.
I thought Dr. Know didn’t fit in well with Rouge City. Think about it. That cartoon face of Einstein didn’t really go with the giant buildings shaped like women.
Basically I really liked the film. It is not perfect but it sure swung for the fences which so few films do nowadays.
Well, dammit, I liked it. Including the end. The story was very much a fairy tale, and as such, you couldn’t leave it hanging open with him at the bottom of the ocean. David was an interesting mix of heroic and tragic - heroic because he persevered and kept his innocence and hope throughout, and tragic because he was forced to do so, instead of choosing to. The ending was a mixture in the same way - he received his reward and punishment together, but you were left with a feeling that maybe, just maybe, he might have pulled through and been freed from the attitude that was imposed on him. I found it very moving.
i want to know where i can get teddy. he is the coolest thing by far in this movie. am i the only one who expected to hear lorenna mckennitt in the closing credits?