DVD Review - Autómata (2015)

Knowing nothing about the film and only having the cover art and back of the box blurb as a guideline, Automata struck me as a crappy version of I, Robot. Such snap judgements are pretty unprofessional as a critic, but hey, it’s pretty hard to keep an open mind about everything. I say this because I want you to do me a favour. Give Automata a chance. It might surprise you.

2044. 99.7% of Earth’s population have been wiped out due to solar flares irradiating the planet. Humanity turned to humanoid robots, called “Pilgrims”, to help rebuild and to maintain the relative safety they have in the cities. These robots have two protocols. 1) They cannot harm any form of life and 2) They cannot alter themselves or others. Antonio Banderas plays Jacq Vaucan, an insurance investigator for the ROC corporation, the people behind the manufacture of the Pilgrims. It’s his job to prove that the Pilgrims aren’t capable of some of the outlandish things people often accuse them of. Vaucan’s world is turned upside down when he learns of a police officer shooting a Pilgrim that was apparently repairing itself, something which conflicts with the second protocol. Soon Vaucan discovers more and more Pilgrims acting out of character and has to get to the bottom of exactly how and why this is happening.

Any sci-fi fan will recognise the two plot important protocols as being slightly condensed and altered versions of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. Automata is unashamedly inspired by both Asimov’s work as well as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, but uses those to create its own world. Banderas is really on form here. He’ll often be sharing a scene with robots and has to carry the scene on his own, which he does expertly. The only vaguely questionable performance in the film was Melanie Griffith as Dr. Dupre, but the film doesn’t focus on her much. Griffith gives a much better performance as Cleo, a sex robot with an intentionally breathy voice. Speaking of voices, Javier Bardem‘s got a good one an’ all, which is used to great effect as the Blue Robot. It also was great seeing Robert Forster.

With the knowledge that Automata has been out in America for quite some time, after the film was over, I checked out some of the reviews and was baffled by the hate the film seemed to get. To me, Automata is the epitome of the phrase“they don’t make ’em like that any more”. Modern sci-fi is mostly just dressed-up action, if we’re being honest with ourselves. Automata is a ponderous film, asking some big questions and toying with the answers. It even manages religious allegory without being preachy. Some of the ideas around the definition and impermanence of life are going to be rattling around my head for months to come. One bone of contention is the film’s change of pace when Vaucan ends up wandering the desert. This was brought up as a negative, but to me, this is where the film really got going and became its own entity.

Automata isn’t the greatest film ever, but the general ratings were way too harsh. I understand that there are narrative problems, but the film isn’t trying to be an airtight, ironclad experience. As with most sci-fi worth watching, it’s the ideas that are paramount. This is a slippery slope, as one could argue that Transformers: Age of Extinction should be viewed the same way, but if one did that, one would be a drooling human arsecheek. I will admit that often characters are moved around for plot convenience, but that didn’t bother me too much. It’s rather inelegant at times, occasionally hitting the philosophical musings a bit too hard, but at least it contains that sort of stuff.

You may notice that I haven’t really mentioned much about the film, but it’s because of what I said in the opening paragraph. I want you to check this film out and go in semi-blind like I did. I will warn you, it won’t be for everyone. Automata plays to a lot of my personal weaknesses. I’m an eternal mark for post-apocalyptic films and slow, methodical and (some would say) boring sci-fi. Also robots. Big fan of them. There were so many little ideas I liked. I loved the skyscraper-sized holographic adverts in the city. I liked the idea of mechanical clouds. I dug the design of the Pilgrims. It created an immersive world, which is a rarity in modern filmmaking. I’m really looking forward to what writer/director Gabe Ibáñez does next. Recommended.

[rating=4]
Ben Browne

Genre: Sci-fi, thriller Distributor:Lionsgate Rating:15 DVD Release Date: 4th May 2015(UK) Director:Gabe Ibáñez Cast:Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Dylan McDermott Buy:Automata