The Machine

Fantastic Look and the Score is Effective, Minimalist and Silky. This is a Creepy, sometimes Frightening Film filled with War-Battered, Brain-Damaged Robots and few Humans.

The Low-Budget takes a Back Seat to the Imaginative Scenery and the Mood is all Melancholy. There is barely a Light in Sight and the Literal Darkness of the Scenes does Enhance the Gloomy Appeal of the Story.

Caity Lotz in a Dual Role is Stunning and Toby Stevens as the Scientist in Despair is OK. The Story may be Nothing New and the Ending will Not Surprise Sci-Fi Geeks. But Viewers will most likely remember the Feel of the Film and it is Unique in that respect.

Overall, Above Average B-Movie with its Sci-Fi Roots Showing most of the Time, although Not in the Foreground. It's an A.I. Trek that is a Welcome Inclusion in the Sub-Genre. Low-Budget Movies should all Look this Good and They Can with Fertile Imaginations.

When a scientist is killed, Britain's Ministry of Defence clash with a lead scientist over plans for an artificially intelligent, self-aware and conscious android.

Inventive, visually interesting science fiction, packed with an array of sci-fi ideas. With an wealth of unapologetic camera light flare and well executed effects Caradog W. James The Machine delivers a thinking man's sci-fi with action thrown in for good measure. Computer scientists Caity Lotz and Toby Stephens give good innings with Lotz stealing the show in a dual role.

With echoes of Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre, Tom Raybould's score helps smooth over any flaws of the film. In addition, making up for some clunky paced and staged scenes is the design of The Machine with her stylised look and robotic soft voice which will stick in the mind long after the credits.

With some great special effects and some strong performances this is solid entry in modern British sci-fi. James delivers a brooding, stylish and highly atmospheric science fiction. Recommended.

I thought this film was beautiful - the use of special effects were stunning and were utilised in a clever way that added to the atmosphere rather than overshadowing the plot.

The Machine is an interesting, dark sci-fi that focuses on character and mood rather than flashy guns and action scenes. I heard it described as a kind of prequel to Bladerunner, and agree this could be true. It has a good script with unexpected plot turns and no excessive dialogue. The delicacy it deals with with issues of loss and mourning was great.

It is a new take on the classic Frankenstein story, is beautifully shot, and was an entertaining film to watch at Tribeca this year.

Frankenstein meets the Terminator meets Blade Runner meets Barbie as emergent biotronic warriors mobilizing against the yellow menace. I actually didn't think it was that bad with some imaginative stuff resonating across several levels of boilerplate. How do you know you're alive? At what point do we become conscious with conscience? How is this programmable in a machine? And how about when a machine can "feel", like appreciate a sunset? I appreciated the irony of the scientist saving her daughter, and then her preferring to play with her "mother". That was funny. Would have liked to have known a lot more about the "machines" that communicated in garble-speak, a language we humans can't understand. What were they talking about? What was the role of the "chief security officer" and what was her backstory? She appeared to play a significant yet underdeveloped role that was under-communicated.

A.I. usually comes in four standard flavors:

1.) The program that resides in a singular non-robotic machine or device such as HAL in Space Odyssey.

2.) The ubiquitous program that infiltrates every computer related device on a network such as Skynet or the Matrix.

3.) The A.I. that inhabits a robot that is obviously a machine like Johnny 5 in Short Circuit or Chappie.

4.) The A.I. that inhabits an android type body of which is virtually indistinguishable from a human like D.A.R.Y.L., David from A.I., or the androids in Blade Runner.

The Machine is of the fourth type. The vessel was a very attractive female that was patterned after her creator, Ava (Caity Lotz). She was just robotic enough in her movements, gestures and speech to know she wasn't real, but still human enough to question your feelings about her.

This movie was dark, both literally and figuratively. I don't think there was any sun shown until the very end. The Machine (meaning the movie because the android was simply called Machine as well) had a mysterious element to it as is usually the case when governments are involved. The government wanted a weapon and Dr. Vincent McCarthy, the lead scientist for the government project, wanted something entirely different. The two parties clash in a violent way.

This is not one of my favorite A.I. movies but it is done pretty well. They never introduced a truly unique perspective on the topic so it didn't move the scales much. The acting was passable as were the special effects so I'd say the movie was between OK and good, leaning more towards good.