Author: allan johnson
Date: 05:25:55 06/21/01
Go up one level in this thread
On June 20, 2001 at 07:01:57, Larry Proffer wrote: > >I read a review of the soon-to-be-released Spielberg movie "A.I."; and was >struck by descriptions of his visions of the implications of Artificial >Intelligence for society, the links with chess-playing HAL in 2001, Pinnochio >and ET. > >Spileberg's seeming imagination and breadth of vision stands in stark contrast >with the puritanical programming-fundamentalism exhibited by the mandarins here. > > >Review of Spielberg's Movie "A.I." ....... > >What a general audience will confront is an unusually ambitious science fiction >film that touches upon such matters as what it means to be a human being, the >definition of family and the notion of creation in both scientific and religious >terms. Viewers predisposed against highfalutin films that take themselves >seriously no doubt will turn off and ask what happened to the old Spielberg. But >those gagging on the glut of cinematic junk food should welcome this brilliantly >made visionary work that's bursting with provocative ideas. > >Set in an only slightly futuristic world rendered much reduced in land mass and >population by melted ice caps, opening scene posits a society in need of >artificially created beings to perform necessary functions. A genius professor >named Hobby (William Hurt) announces to colleagues his intention to build a >child robot that can dream and have a subconscious and an emotional life. > >Twenty months later, such a kid has been placed with Henry and Monica Swinton >(Sam Robards and Frances O'Connor), a couple whose son Martin has been in deep >freeze for five years pending a cure to his crippling disease. The first glimpse >of David (Haley Joel Osment) presents the sandy-haired, blue-eyed boy in >explicitly angelic terms, draping him in white garb worthy of his immaculate >conception. > >Once David is ``imprinted'' with his familial bond, he starts calling Monica >``Mommy'' and worrying about the fact that she will one day die. In an attempt >to further the transferal of her feelings from her ``late'' son to David, Monica >gives him Martin's Teddy (the ``supertoy'' of the 1969 Brian Aldiss short story >that inspired the film), an intelligent computerized bear that for a while seems >like a mobile and more companionable version of HAL in ``2001.'' > >Suddenly, however, a healthy Martin (Jake Thomas) comes home and, after >competing for the affections of Teddy, begins to treat David as his own >supertoy. For his part, having thoroughly ingested ``Pinocchio'' at bedtime >(although, as a ``mecha,'' or mechanical being, David neither sleeps nor eats), >David begins to hope that he, too, can turn into a real boy. He stuffs spinach >down his throat, thoroughly messing up his circuitry, and has an alarming >episode with Martin that ends up at the bottom of a swimming pool. Monica is >forced to the dreadful decision of dumping David, with Teddy in tow, like an >unwanted pet, in the middle of a distant forest. > >Disciplined and precise in style, this first section has a claustrophobic, even >hermetic feel; the near-absence of exteriors is accentuated by house windows >that are frosted or blasted with light from behind, eliminating the sense of a >world outside. Spielberg concentrates with intense focus on the gradual accrual >of emotions, themes and motifs having to do with the ties that bind and don't. >With no indication of where the story might be headed, a somewhat deliberate >pace and method set in, but it all remains intriguing enough to hold the >interest and lay the foundation for what shortly becomes a very imposing >structure. > >Part two shifts to a seedy urban world where a handsome guy named Gigolo Joe >(Jude Law) is literally the cock of the walk. This ``lover robot'' is a >''mecha'' designed exclusively for its user's pleasure. ``Once you've had a >lover robot, you'll never want a real man again,'' Joe charmingly boasts to his >latest client before he finds trouble and flees to the countryside, where he, >along with David and many other mechas, are rounded up by some terrifying >``Biker Hounds'' and carted off to a ghastly entertainment arena called Flesh >Fair. > >A nightmarish stadium where the bloodthirsty crowd is treated to a spectacle >combining the most unsavory aspects of gladiatorial combat, the French >Revolution, a goth concert and a three-ring circus, Flesh Fair boasts as its >main event the execution of mechas by extremely imaginative means. > >Gruesome and scary enough to make ``A.I.'' the source of bad dreams for >children, long sequence (shot in the giant Spruce Goose Dome in Long Beach) >summons up questions of the definition of humanity, as well as positioning David >as potentially representing the opportunity for a fresh start, whatever that >might mean for ``humanity'' in the broadest sense of the term. > >Trio of David, Joe and Teddy manages an escape from Flesh Fair to a gaudy >metropolis called Rouge City. There, several of the narrative and thematic seeds >earlier planted begin to grow. A sort of ``Blade Runner'' lite in general terms, >the urban environment here represents one of the most plausible visions of the >urban future ever put onscreen, as it's neither too fanciful nor too dire, just >lacking in soul or good taste. Continuing in the ``Pinocchio'' vein, a virtual >``wizard'' called Dr. Know informs the visitors that the Blue Fairy will be >found at the End of the World, which for David represents the place where he >began life, in the offices of Professor Hobby. > >What happens in the final act is best not detailed, but it's amazingly set in a >New York recognizable only by the tops of familiar skyscrapers poking out of an >ocean that has otherwise engulfed the city. It also possesses elements that >unavoidably stir echoes of ``2001'' and ``Close Encounters'' in their expression >of highly advanced life forms and the suggestion that human beings could >represent just one stage in the evolutionary life cycle, a stage that at a >certain point was rendered obsolete. > >All this is heady, enormously stimulating stuff, the sort of thing one is no >longer accustomed to confronting in mainstream Hollywood entertainment. One can >speculate that it took the inspiration of Kubrick's lofty thematic interests (as >well as his ghost peering over his shoulder) to push Spielberg to be this >ambitious in a sci-fi format, but this issue is incidental to his having proved >himself up to the task of taking on subjects of this magnitude and making them >dramatically absorbing. > >Working from voluminous notes and a screen story written for Kubrick by Ian >Watson based on the Aldiss story, Spielberg takes screenplay credit here for the >first time since ``Close Encounters.'' Serviceable dialogue could have used a >little more punch here and there, but the only place the writing falls notably >short is in the brief opening and, especially, closing narration, which would >have benefited from a more exalted and poetic touch. > >Although one develops a real empathy for David and the film becomes moving when >it intends to, there is no question that the atmosphere is colder and the >approach more analytical than in previous Spielberg pictures. Brakes have been >put on what might have been sentimentalized or emotionally milked situations. >Stylistically, it is all Spielberg's, with his characteristic backlighting and >quicksilver progressions in evidence courtesy of his ace collaborators, >cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and editor Michael Kahn. > >One of the more surprising contributions comes from composer John Williams. >There is still perhaps too much music, but its feel -- light, playful and >serious by turns -- is quite unlike any of the scores he's previously written >for Spielberg. Production designer Rick Carter has done a tremendous job >creating a wide range of sets, from the Swintons' warmly inviting home to the >visually vulgar future. Special visual effects and animation by Industrial Light >& Magic, with credit going most prominently to Michael Lantieri, Dennis Muren >and Scott Farrar, as well as Stan Winston's robot character design and >animatronics, are top of the line and, in the case of the submerged Manhattan, >hauntingly realized. > >Osment again proves himself a superb young actor, not emoting in obvious fashion >but strongly holding centerscreen for nearly 2-1/2 hours. Other performances are >serviceably low-key, with Law doing a lively if limited turn as a peacock among >robots and O'Connor registering most of the story's most explicit emotions. >Buried deep in the end credits is the fact that some big names -- Robin Williams >(as Dr. Know), Ben Kingsley, Meryl Streep and Chris Rock -- contributed the >voices for some of the animatronic characters. Larry:While this is an interesting topic I find genuine intelligence a far more exciting and relevant subject to explore.Quite frankly I worry about the fascination that most people have with artificial intelligence. Cheers Allan
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