A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)July 20th, 2001
A.I. - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
July 19th, 2001
The safest way to approach "A.I." is to understand it is a Steven Spielberg film of a Stanley Kubrick production. Kubrick himself decided to not direct the film while he was alive, thus handing the reins to Spielberg. A noble and satisfying choice. "A.I." is Spielberg's best and most uncompromising film since "Schindler's List," deserving of any and all accolades. It is brave, risky, emotional, disturbing, complex and entrancing.
Haley Joel Osment plays a mecha named David, a child robot of the future. He is adopted by two kind, loving, troubled people, Monica and Henry Swinton (Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards). Their own real son is barely kept alive in a coma. Henry Swinton sees this as an opportunity to alleviate his and his wife's pain by having a mecha in their house as a replacement until their own son gets better (Henry happens to work for a cybertronic company that specializes in mecha technology). Monica is initially angry and hesistant but eventually gives in to the idea. She ignores David, hides from him and he only thinks it is a game - David cannot sense or reason that Monica is suffering. Eventually Monica "imprints" David by turning on his switch to learn and to love. David does learn to love but does not know how to use it - he loves Monica, whom he refers to as his "mommy," unconditionally. But regret begins to figure in the situation when Monica's real son starts to come out of his c!
oma. There is a clash of sorts b
etween David and the real son unfolding in a series of eerie scenes where David is seen as a threat, a hindrance to the Swinton's sense of serenity.
Monica eventually abandons David in the woods due to his innocently destructive nature. Thus begins David's quest to become a real boy since he feels that if he becomes real, his mommy will take him back. Along the way, David lands in a decadent, sinful city called Rogue City where he meets Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a male prostitute mecha who has the ability to conjure the appropriate romantic mood by twiching with his head which automatically plays Astaire or Sinatra tunes. Gigolo and David are eventually captured by anti-mecha rebels who destroy mechas for sport in a stadium of cheering denizens. David gets away in the nick of time since he is deemed too human to be a mecha and his search continues for the Blue Fairy (a character right out of "Pinocchio") whom he feels can make him into a real boy.
"A.I." was shrouded in secrecy for years before being unveiled in theatres, a rare event in this day and age of Harry Knowles and the overhype machine. Kubrick was known for utmost secrecy, particularly for the misunderstood "Eyes Wide Shut" which was erroneously advertised as a sexual thriller. It is a pleasure for once to see a film and not have a clue as to how it will turn out. "A.I." is unpredictable in a way Spielberg has not been since "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The mood and atmosphere do not shift as much as one expects, though it is a structure comprised of two acts and an extended epilogue. Strange structuring indeed but you only need to look back to Spielberg's "The Lost World," which had a fitting climax only to begin again with the setting changed to San Diego where the T-Rex runs rampant in the city. "A.I." has a deliberate point where it could have ended with David pleading and pleading to become a real boy. I will not give away much except to say tha!
t it ends instead with one of th
e most spiritually moving and saddest climaxes I've seen in a long while.
The performances are all pleasurable to watch. Osment shakes his cutesy persona for a more subtle twisting of moods and facial expressions from an impersonal mecha to a mecha with an emotional side that threatens to explode with pure love and violence. Jude Law is damn near perfection with his cockiness and sexual allure, though I would loved to learn more about him. Frances O'Connor blends sensitivity with despair flawlessly as the conflicted Monica. And William Hurt also displays curiously similar fragmented emotions as Professor Hobby, who is as close to David as one can expect - only the reasons never seem clear.
"A.I." begins as a Kubrick film with a chilly air of doom throughout the first half of the film. The second half veers into Spielberg territory as does the epilogue (this explains why Kubrick chose Spielberg to make the film since its Pinocchio antecedents coincide with the latter's sensitivity). But something strange occurs - Spielberg has told a tale of sentiment without manipulating the audience's emotions. He is not overtly sentimental, as he has been in later films. It is a return to Spielberg's confidence and assuredness with the unsentimentality and harshness of "Duel," "Jaws," and "Close Encounters" - he chooses to detach somewhat from the main characters so that we can see how the emotional crescendos in the film affects them. Thankfully the musical score by John Williams is not syrupy but rather enthralling in its minimalist tone and style comprised of what sounds variations on a slow murmur.
So what does "A.I." finally have to say about a mecha like David? Do we have a responsibility to love a robot even though it is not real? What is Monica's responsbility since her husband only bought the damn robot which could be easily disposed or discarded like an older computer model? Is David any closer to understanding a human's emotions since he has his own, or are his emotions fabricated based on an imprint in his design? If he can love, can he rationalize that love? Does he not see that his "mommy" did not love him as he thought she had? Such moral questions invite lots of answers but can mostly result in ambiguity, as it should be. Kubrick revelled in disorder, pessimism and ambiguity. Spielberg revels in order, optimism and clear resolutions. That Spielberg remained faithful to Kubrick's original plans and storyboards shows a certain maturity on his part. "A.I." is as intelligent a film as one can expect - a marvel to witness, and a feast for the eyes and the ears. Br!
avo Spielberg!
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