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| Brett S.
Harrison |
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| A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE From seeing the coming attractions, one might expect a wonder filled film full of positive feelings and heart tugs. Although there is certainly wonder and some heart-warming moments this is basically a dark, cautionary tale of abandonment, loss and increasing role technology plays in our daily lives Haley Joel Osment plays David, who is a mecha. Mechas are the robots of the distant future. They are in every aspect of life, from servants to even teddy bears. Some of them look and act just like humans. David is different. He has been programmed by Professor Hobby (William Hurt) to feel. The Swintons (Sam Robards and Frances O’connor) are an affluent couple whose son is in a coma and has been cryogenically frozen awaiting a cure. The husband thinks that bringing David to his house hoping to fill a void in his wife’s life. Things go swell then what is good news for the Swintons is bad news for David. The son recovers. David eventually is cast out, having to fend for himself. The rest of the movie concerns itself with David being caught in various predicaments. Will David ever be a real boy? Haley
Joel Osment is so good he’s scary. Reports have read that he was
instructed to never blink, so as to add to the realism. Jude Law is on
hand as a male prostitute mecha who is on the lam and befriends David. This
movie started out as a project for Stanley Kubrick, who wanted to
collaborate with Spielberg in this. Spielberg did it out of love for
Kubrick, a good friend, and presumably for the idea. It is an amazing
piece of cinema. At the bottom of everything remains the simple fact
that Spielberg is one of our greatest storytellers. 3
and ½ reels out of 4. PG
13. Opens
June 29,2001.
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©Copyright 2002 Brett S. Harrison |