Artificial Intelligence : A.I.

While seeing Steven Spielberg’s brilliant A.I, I was struck with wonder and haunted in ways only the best movies can do.

the movie is about a couple who receives a robot child to replace their child who has cancer and is cryogenically frozen, until a cure can be found.

The beginning parts with the family and Haley Jo Osmet as the Robot child David are fantastic. From the scence where he creepily follows her around the apartment to him watching them eat dinner as he mocks their movements with a fork and a bowl.

The problem with this type of robot is it is programmed to love unconditioally and the love is programmed so strongly that if the parent has to give the child back the best thing to do is to take it to the factory for its destruction.

Trouble begins when the real son is cured and comes home and breeds nothing but contempt for David, to the son David is a little toy to messed with. After a horrible accident by his mother in the woods with only a robotic Teddy Bear as his guide.

In the forest David meets Gigolo Joe a pleasure model designed for sexual gratification, and this begins the dark second half of this film. While the first half is light but creepy Spielberg, the second half is dark gloomy Kubrik. With such things as a flesh fair, (don't ask) and other haunting scenes. This half works as well if not better then the first half, and then it all goes to hell. The last half hour of this movie is atrocious, it was a waste of time and I so steamed they felt it needed to be in the film. I won't give away anything but the movie could have ended with a much tougher and more haunting ending then it did, because after the Kubrik half is over we get a final Spielbergian half hour.

Nevertheless A.I. is also visually stunning with excellent performances from the actors, especially Haley Joel Osment (who was so brilliant in the Sixth Sense) but also Jude Law are very good. It is a movie for adults and it contains disturbing scenes. (I.e. the scenes were humans are making a show out of destroying humanoid robots ).

Overall a good movie but you have to patient throughout.

Rating :

* * * & 1/2