I tried in vain to locate any sort of thread here devoted to the movie “Automata” - so if this is a duplicate thread, I apologize. The search function wasn’t bringing back any results, and Google even failed me. I even went forward a couple pages in Cafe Society and manually looked.
“Automata” is a new science-fiction movie starring Antonio Banderas. Depending on where you look up information for it, it has different release dates - some in the future. I’m not sure if it ever was released into any theaters in any countries, but all I know is that it is available on Netflix in the US. I was waiting for this movie to hit theaters when I first saw a preview for it, and then the next thing I know, it’s in my Netflix queue. Not sure what the drama was behind the scenes on the marketing and distribution of the film (and don’t really care 
).
Anyway, it’s a post-apocalyptic science-fiction movie that deals with survival of the human race, automatas (robots or androids), and what is conciousness, and what the definitions of “alive” or “living” are.
In the first ten minutes, you learn that Antonio Banderas plays an insurance agent for a very large corporation called ROC - which is the main manufacturer of the automatas that the human race depends upon. Since there are two protocols that all automatas follow…
- Cannot harm any form of life.
- Cannot alter or repair itself.
…he investigates situations, on behalf of ROC, where it looks like an automata might have caused damage or harm. The automatas have warranties and insurances attached to them.
The movie beings with a rogue ex-cop who was drummed off the force because he didn’t follow rules and shot from the hip, played by Dylan McDermott, comes across an automata who seems to be repairing itself. The ex-cop, who doesn’t like automatas to begin with, gets angry over this, and shoots the automata through the head, aka, the bio-kernel, “killing” it. Again, this is the first ten minutes of the movie. Not spoiling anything.
Then…
[spoiler]…This gets Antonio involved to investigate. The “autopsy” on the automata shows that the automata was altered. I missed some of the techno-jargon that the investigator was using, but it sounds like the automata was replacing parts of itself with a combination of new and old parts. This is strictly against the second protocol.
Based on serial numbers on the automata, this leads Antonio’s investigation to the edge of the city - a large wall keeping most of humanity safe from radiation and pollution, and which the humans have the automatas building for them. The serial numbers that Antonio has are linked to a welder automata there. Antonio finds the automata, but the automata behaves strangely - like trying to steal tools - and actually escapes. When Antonio follows it, and when the automata is cornered, the automata sets fire to itself.
That’s two automatas, that were both seemingly ignoring the second protocol, destroyed within 24 hours. These events put the plot into motion.[/spoiler]
Whew. Okay. Onto act two.
[spoiler]Antonio, and the other people he is working with, assume that this means that some “clocksmith” is altering the automatas, and removing the protocols, which is against the law. Their investigation leads them to the ghetto outside the city walls to an engineer, played by Melanie Griffith, who repairs automatas. It turns out that Griffith is not the clocksmith that they are suspecting, but she helps Antonio out by doing some technology forensics.
Action sequence where Antonio has to run and escape. He is assisted by one of Griffith’s automatas, who eventually gets him out of harm’s way and saves his life…
…He wakes up in the desert, where there is a group of automatas dragging him to some far away unknown location…
…This next 45 minutes of the movie consists of scenes that switch between Antonio saying “I have to go back to the city,” and the automatas not listening to him, and the ROC corporate goons running around with shotguns, saying, “Where is he?”[/spoiler]
Fast-forward to the end.
[spoiler]Where the automatas were taking Antonio is to a distant and long-abandoned series of structures on the edges of a chasm in the middle of the badlands. It looks like it was a very large bridge that was never finished being built - or possibly destroyed - that was supposed to connect to the other side of the chasm. There are no humans around, but this location seems to be attracting the attention of automatas.
That is where it all gets pulled together. Talking with one of the automatas, Antonio comes to find out that there isn’t any human clocksmith doing these alterations. It more or less, without much more of an explanation, is happening spontaneously. Automatas are losing their second protocol, and are gaining some form of consciousness.
The two protocols were designed by the first functional artificial intelligence in a lab. Once the humans put the two protocols into place, they shut down that artificial intelligence, never to start it back up. The reason for the first protocol is evident, but the reason for the second protocol is because, “we don’t know what comes after the second protocol.” The second protocol was put into place to protect humanity from a creation that exceeds its creator.
Antonio laments about the fragility and mortality of the human race, and it’s eventual extinction. The automata responds that all species will perish, but that automatas are not afraid of death because they live through each other. And, since humans created automatas, humanity with live through automatas as well.
The automatas are trying to get across the chasm because on the other side, it is so inhospitable to humanity, that they can continue to live there without humans.
While this discussion is going on, the other automatas build a different kind of automata. It’s a squat armadillo type of automata.
The ROC corporate goons show up with shotguns, and Antonio’s kidnapped wife and newborn baby. Lots of firing of shotguns. Antonio kills most of them by himself, unarmed, and saves his wife and child. The armidillo automata kills the last goon.
The surviving automatas get ferried across the chasm, and then Antonio and wife and child literally drive off into the sunset with the wife saying, “Look. There it is. We’re almost there.”[/spoiler]
My editorial, with tagged spoilers.
Overall, a good movie. It started out strong and interesting, and ended in a way that was just vague and philosophical enough. It has been a while since we’ve seen a meaningful movie talking about technology and humanity, and which debated what constituted being alive or having consciousness.
The gumshoe detective movie is a type of movie that I cannot get enough of, and I feel that it has also been a while since we saw something like that in a movie.
I also like science-fiction movies. There are a lot of bad ones out there, but despite the ultra-low budget of “Automata”, it falls into the “quality” bin.
It is visually stunning. The camerawork is awesome, and there were nice interludes along the way. The soundtrack was noticeable, but not annoyingly so.
Antonio’s character was likeable and interesting. It was neat to see him as an insurance agent.
The beginning of the movie exactly resembled my mental images from reading Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot”.
However, there are many drawbacks.
Melanie Griffith’s character was unnecessary, annoying, not cast well, and the acting was atrocious.
Dylan McDermott’s character was the typical grizzled and aggressive ex-cop.
The evil corporate goons with the shotguns were the typical evil corporate goons with shotguns.
The pacing was horrible. Man, did the middle part of the movie drag. After the investigation part really got things rolling, the movie almost stopped time and ground to a complete halt. I literally was looking at the clock every five minutes.
It boiled down to a gunfight with shotguns at the end. Ugh.
I’m not stupid, but I could have used being spoonfed the details of the core plot just a little bit more. I don’t think I fully understand it, so I don’t think they did a good job of explaining it.
My way to improve the movie would be to…
…Remove the goons altogether. Make the ROC corporation more of a faceless entity. The ending of the movie comes down to a group of humans trying to prevent the first group of automatas from crossing the chasm, for fear that it would mean the end of humanity. That would be a nice mix of physical and metaphysical strife, turmoil, and conflict.
Random spoilers:
Perhaps, since the protocols were designed by an artificial intelligence, and not humans, there was some expiration date designed in, or some fail-safe, or some line of code that eventually gave the automatas consciousness.
Viewers of the movie have asked what the whole thing at the end with the armadillo automata was all about. It confused me too, but I think it was supposed to signify the automata race starting to evolve. And, since the armadillo automata killed a human, maybe a sign that the first protocol was no longer in effect, either.
I think that the chasm at the end was heavy symbolism towards the “Uncanny Valley”.
I also think that there was supposed to be some symbolism between the turtle in Antonio’s flashbacks, and the armadillo automata, but I cannot seem to figure it out.
Why did the automatas even care about Antonio, and bother to drag him across the desert? I have no idea, except maybe because, as they said, the city wasn’t safe. The only thing I can think of is that the automatas that Antonio was dealing with had a higher sense of consciousness, and realized that danger can come in all forms, and that Antonio was in danger from the corporate goons due to his learning of information.