2050

It's not a new premise by any measure, but the narrative and dialogue has enough originality to hold some interest. There are moments of brilliance in the cinematography, like islands in a sea of low budget mediocrity. "Futurising" the present by dropping in the odd cheesy special effect really doesn't work; either go all the way, or be way more subtle. This is just disjointed world-building that drops the viewer out of the story.

The acting and dialogue is like the cinematography. Inconsistent. Moments of beauty and powerful nuance, drowning in acres of awkward and stilted.

I'm glad Dean can still get work. I've always had a soft spot for him. He's not a great actor, and his 50+ years sans A-grade Hollywood cosmetic surgery/stylist/nutritionist/trainer budget are showing, but he seems like such a nice guy. He deserves a shot, and this film shows not all hope is lost.

The story is ambitious. Much like "A.I" and 'Humans', "2050" explores the relationship between man and technology. The personal acceptance, social implications and potential conflict. In this film the exploration is between human relationships and advanced artificial intelligence integrated sex bots. And yes there is a slight flippant approach with "battle of the sexes" humor.

I am not sure if "2050" ever lives up to the expectations of the film's creators. The concept, on the surface is a curious topic, one with a valid point. Unfortunately, I felt a definite judgemental vibe from the story's perspective choices. Several of the characters felt shakey, didn't really fit Into the situations offered. Some of the writing seemed to need a bit more development.

Special effects are pretty minimal. The environments seem more now than future. Aside from some ancillary CGI elements peppered in there is no real leap to a sci-fi aspect. I didn't get enough A.I conveyance from the android characters to believe them. All that said, the film is shot nicely. Some of the situational material between the human characters were nice. "2050" has a few cool elements but not enough to make sci-fi futurist fans happy.

...., Don't Bother, you'll never get these wasted minute back.

Go watch the UK production 'Humans' instead, it's a lot more thought provoking and deals with the disruptions to society and family that the technology will bring in the near future. There's very little to make this turkey stand out from the crowd, visually it's uninspiring, there's no real plot, just a load of over-wordy sentences strung together with no real meaning - the Director and Writer should watch "Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex" to understand how to use dialog properly during scenes with limited activity on camera. The actors do a fair job of trying to deliver the lines with conviction, but the dialog they're given to work with, just makes the viewer want to skip forward.

I really struggled rating this one. I have a softspot for any nice cinematography set in New York City. Don't know why, have never been there. Just something so human and organic about that city.

As for acting: some really really bad, most slightly below average, and occasionally excellent. Same for directing.

The main companion robot was really good in her role. The others were fine. There was some unevenness in how the director saw their movements and expressions. Maybe he could explain it off as older and newer models. The companion to the main protagonist seemed more natural, but with a slight emptiness in the eyes. The other models felt very artificial.

And finally to what drags my rating way up to 7, which most wont agree with it deserving for good reasons. But I just had to give it some reward for a couple things it does very well.

It doesn't get too deep. It's not a complicated highly metaphysical issue. It's an issue we are currently facing, just in a different form. Devices. Loss of human contact and meaningful interaction. Inability to know how to interact.

On the flip side, they make the very valid point that we overcomplicate the meaning we give to sexual devices. Our social conditioning adds way too much subtext (you need the device or the roll play because Im not enough, you don't trust me enough, etc...).

Finally, there is a brilliant comment near the end (non-spoiler, it doesn't impact the outcome or story of the film). It involves releasing sterile insects into a population to help control or eradicate that population. A simple comment, but one the writers were brilliant to see and make the connection to sex bots.

So I don't want to over emphasize this film and say it's amazing. It's more of a film with a lot of lost potential. In the right hands, with the right director, and some cleaning up of the script and dialogue, it could be an excellent film. Not ground breaking, but good. But again, some people may find it too simplistic. I loved the simplicity.

And we certainly can't fault those who struggle to get through this film. They have good reason.

Last note: the ending dialogue is excellent, however, it ultimately ends flat.

The film takes an interesting premise and plays it inoffensively as possible, and drags the thin plot over far too long of a run time. If this was a short youtube scifi short it might have been bearable, but at full length its just wasted potential.