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The film has an interesting premise (similar to Skynet A.I. from the Terminator franchise or 'Her'), full of smart, big ideas, due to the questions that it poses at the beginning of the film: Where the future of mankind is heading due to technological advancement? What nanotechnology and A.I. (artificial intelligence) can possibly do to shape a better future for mankind? What is self-awareness? What happens if we can actually transfer our consciousness to a computer? Would that really be us? Is this truly the next step of human evolution? Is it truly possible that technological singularity (a hypothetical moment in time when A.I. has progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, changing civilization and human nature) can be achieved? How does it affect our beliefs and religion? The film also questions the morality of doing such a thing, mentioning the possible benefits and negative consequences as well.
While these big, interesting questions are mostly without answers, but that is enough to make a thought-provoking story that sparks useful discussions for many years to come.
However, the film failed to deliver a compelling and engaging story from the high-concept ideas presented earlier in the film. Nothing that happens in the story actually excites you, or makes you feel that it's thought-provoking or 'evolutionary', which might lead many audience to have the misconception that the pacing is rather slow. A lot of details are not fully elaborated or explained in the film and it requires the audience to roughly guess or think on how some of the events actually happened in the film. None of the characters in the film are memorable, have character development for the audience to know them, despite solid performances from the casts, especially Rebecca, who did all the best she could to show her struggles to cope with her husband's eventual death, devotion, eventual fear and mistrust to her husband to the audience. The script is just poorly written and effectively ruined the film.
Bad things aside, Pfister's style of cinematography is commendable, the film's visuals are outstanding and effectively captures the character and nature scenes well. (Although it is unknown why there's too many random nature shots taken and shown in the film). Personally, I think the ending scene was well made enough, when Will's motivation was finally revealed to the audience. (But what happened throughout the film seemingly contradicts his intentions though.) The film seems to be a cautionary tale about science and technology at first, but later on it shifts to condemn our tendency to choose personal freedom above the well-being of all life. (individualism vs. collectivism)
Don't get me wrong, while the film itself isn't terrible, but the film failed to deliver its promise. It could have been so much more, but the film just didn't 'transcend' to the level it needs to be.
Rating: 6.5/10
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Next Review: That Demon Within
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