The Machine | Review

Imitation of Life: James’ Sci-Fi Thriller Plumbs Dark Recesses of A.I.

While its ingenious ideas are sometimes marred by obvious budgetary limitations, director Caradog W. James’ second feature, The Machine is a highly enjoyable and brooding sci-fi flick in the philosophical vein of Blade Runner, with a smattering of other similarly minded or styled classics, such as Lang’s Metropolis heavy on its mind. Even though it sometimes looks like a film that seems tailor made for the Syfy Channel, James still manages to create an appropriate atmosphere with its cavernous, dimly lit underground bunkers. An arresting and ambient score reminiscent of Vangelis and early John Carpenter is complimentary to its simple yet hypnotic spell.

In the not too distant future, the UK seems to be languishing in the throes of the preapocalypse as the Western world is heavily engaged in a Cold War with China. The government pours unlimited resources into the development of advanced weaponry using artificial intelligence, the mastering of which will determine who the reigning world power is. In the midst of this is computer genius Vincent McCarthy (Toby Stephens) who is perfecting highly intelligent androids by using the bodies of brain dead and/or compromised war veterans. The trick, it seems, is making androids that can appear to be human, as they can pose the largest potential threat by being passable. While McCarthy’s deleterious boss (David Lawson) appears to care little for the lives destroyed in the process of perfecting their plans, McCarthy himself seems to have ulterior motives for his commitment to the military operation. When McCarthy recruits an aspiring young American scientist named Ava (Caity Lotz) to help him with the mission, he ends up experiencing feelings for her, even though there may be devious designs pertaining to just how deeply involved Ava will become involved in their operation.

Even though a grand finale shoot out bears the brunt of criticism due to its distracting cheapness, James does manage to wow on several occasions, including in an opening sequence concerning a war veteran with half his head missing. Likewise, James’ script is peppered with homage and The Machine should hold definite interest for genre fans, particularly in the handling of Ava, recreated as a robot that seems an unmistakable ode to Brigitte Helm in Metropolis, used to great effect in several instances as when her shocked expression is ghoulishly reflected in a pool of blood belonging to her first victim.

Sci-fi fans will surely recognize Denis Lawson from the original Star Wars films, here playing Stephen’s ruthless boss. And if Toby Stephens often seems underwhelming both as a grieving father and potential love interest it might be because Caity Lotz is the more sensational presence, especially once she’s morphed into the reluctant robot that must drolly shed her gentility (“Your hair feels like carpet and like fur”) to become violent killing machine.

And while there may not be as much time for James to develop a human romance with an operating system as something like last year’s Her, their mutual attraction and chemistry of Ava and Vincent is barely developed. If only there could have been a greater sense that Ava (her three letter name reminiscent of Eve, a name with specific connotations) and Vincent were actually going up against a substantial foe, perhaps The Machine would have achieved a greater impact. As it stands, the antagonistic Lawson hardly feels to be leading the charge of a powerful and terrifying military force currently embroiled in a dramatic Cold War with China, forces that are never characterized as being sturdy or omnipotent by any means. Likewise, the robot minions led by Pooneh Hajimohammadi, which are constantly being shown to converse in their own language, have a few surprises of their own that don’t really seem all that surprising.

Still, James seems to tap in that universal anxiety of man vs. machine, metal vs. flesh. Just as Jose Padhila’s reboot of Robocop flirted with the notion of man/machine hybrids, the conscious machine may be the undoing of humankind, though maybe we’re not already far off from these dystopic nightmares, continually patched into the virtual reality of social networking as we are.

★★★/☆☆☆☆☆