Artificial Intelligence




Posted by Dexter

Artificial Intelligence. Remarkable film that I appreciate even more with this second viewing. Possibly my favorite Steven Spielberg film.

The scene where David is abandoned in the forest is one of the most powerfully created scenes ever. It sure got me all teary-eyed. Just imagining what Monica must have been going through at that time and every moment after that, not knowing what would happen to David throughout the rest of his everlasting life. It would be difficult to live the same way with oneself after doing such an emotionally damaging thing.

I can't help but relate to stories about robots with feelings and others feeling for them, or possibly falling in love with them. Ever since I first saw the anime Metropolis, I have had this fascination with the subject.

The film was quite depressing. I thought this film was more depressing than Grave of the Fireflies or Schindler's List. The Flesh Fair was such a depressing allegory of the Holocaust, which is something that Steven seems to bring up often in his work. It convincingly illustrates that mankind's nature of cruelty will always be there in any time period and that history is ....ed to repeat itself.

Speaking of Grave of the Fireflies, since we got a bunch of anime fans here, wasn't it sad? I used to watch it more often at a much younger age and I used to get upset at the boy's strong pride that got him and his sister in that situation in the first place. Of course, war gives dehumanization the opportunity to increase, dramatically. Artificial Intelligence deals with dehumanization, as well.

hmm, interesting...




Posted by Aioros

[COLOR=Yellow]I thought it was a great film too. Though i saw it only twice, more than 3 years ago, i can still pinpoint some of it's pros and cons. The thing that i remember the most about the film is that it ran longer than necessary. Somehow i feel the last 45mins weren't needed, it should have ended sooner. I remember in an interview Haley Joel Osmont said he came up to Steven with the idea of his character not shown blinking throughout the entire movie for added realism, which was a nice touch. My favorite character in the movie was Jude Law's womanizing robot character, he completely stole the show. I thought he was just cool in every way, from the way he looked to the way he talked and moved. He should have been given at least an Oscar nomination for his performance.

I would have to see it again to comment anymore on the movie.[/COLOR]




Posted by Trigger

I enjoyed Artificial Intelligence, it would certainly be a movie I would wish to own on DVD. It was the very first movie I had seen that featured Jude Law in it and ever since I had seen him, I have instantly been in love with his acting skills (not to mention appearance!) The story itself was very touching, particularly the ending when David finds himself underwater, in front of the statue of a giant fairy, but the story reminded me so much of Bicentennial Man. In both movies, the robots desired to be more human and they both went on a quest to find what they wanted, meeting other people and robots along the way and learning some undesired truths. Nonetheless, I thought that it was a good movie, if not a little similar. Oddly enough, I was speaking about this movie just yesterday.




Posted by Mystic Hero

I saw years ago when it was in the theatres. At that time it rather scared me with the whole concept of what it means to be human. I now understand its meaning better and appreciate it more now that I have watched it numerous times. It's message of what it truely means to be human was portrayed rather well. A great film indeed.




Posted by Dexter


Quoting Paul Cesar: [COLOR=Yellow]The thing that i remember the most about the film is that it ran longer than necessary.[/COLOR]


I notice that feeling easily comes over many people. I have belief that this is partially because the time in the story stretches out for over 2,000 years! It makes the movie itself seem very long, but it rally isn't. I think the length was important in giving the right feeling, too. I was enjoying it so much, I wouldn't mind if it were even longer, possibly four hours. Some of my favorite movies are quite long. Magnolia being the prime example.

Bicentennial Man is another one I really need to see again, although I remember not being too impressed with it, especially compared to such films as Artificial Intelligence.



Posted by Fate

Dex, you barely saw the wonder that is A.I.? The movie moves me to tears upon every viewing.




Posted by inequity

Ya, I saw that movie in the movie theater when it came out. And right when monica was about to drive away in the forest scene, around the time where everyone in the audience was all teary eyed, there was a technical difficulty and the movie halted for 10 minutes.

Kinda killed the moment.




Posted by Aioros


Quoting Dexter: I notice that feeling easily comes over many people. I have belief that this is partially because the time in the story stretches out for over 2,000 years! It makes the movie itself seem very long, but it rally isn't. I think the length was important in giving the right feeling, too. I was enjoying it so much, I wouldn't mind if it were even longer, possibly four hours. Some of my favorite movies are quite long. Magnolia being the prime example.

Bicentennial Man is another one I really need to see again, although I remember not being too impressed with it, especially compared to such films as Artificial Intelligence.

[COLOR=Yellow]I don't mind long movies if they keep me interested until the very end. When AI got to the part with the aliens and all that i was like "Come on now, end the movie already, what do aliens have to do with a story about a boy robot understanding human emotions". I also had that same feeling with the last 15 mins of Fight Club(another movie which i loved). Again, don't misunderstand me, some of my favorite movies seem to go on forever(Lord of the Rings, Scarface, Titanic), but i don't mind them because the story has me hooked.

Bicentennial Man sucked, i much prefer I Robot over it.[/COLOR]



Posted by Dandelion

I saw it once....and that's because I cried like a baby when I did. Oh I cried a good deal, and I hate crying, so I haven't watched it again :P It was really good though...wish I remember more of it then I do...and all I remember is crying.




Posted by Spartacus_(AceT)


Quoting Dandelion: I saw it once....and that's because I cried like a baby when I did. Oh I cried a good deal, and I hate crying, so I haven't watched it again :P It was really good though...wish I remember more of it then I do...and all I remember is crying.


Yeah I came close to crying too, and films never cause me to cry. But I agree in that the film did drag on at the end with all the philosophical explanations. Only Stanley Kubrick (who as we all knew wrote the original ideas for A.I. but could never get it off the ground) had the intellect and depth to blend philosophy, metaphysics and emotion into a truly riveting experience. Also, throughout the movie there are a number of rip-offs from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, as well as E.T. and Close Encounters. Speilberg put his heart into this film, that much if obvious, but it was just too deep for him to handle. Kubrick was a genius. Speilberg, while very talented, is not.



Posted by Dexter

I personally feel that Steven did better than Stanley could have done. It would have been incredibly unlike the Artificial Intelligence film that I have come to know if Stanley would have created it. Although I think it would still be a wonderful creation, Steven really pulled this together with a pleasant aura that I can't see Stanley doing.




Posted by Spartacus_(AceT)


Quoting Dexter: I personally feel that Steven did better than Stanley could have done. It would have been incredibly unlike the Artificial Intelligence film that I have come to know if Stanley would have created it. Although I think it would still be a wonderful creation, Steven really pulled this together with a pleasant aura that I can't see Stanley doing.


If Kubrick was alive to make it, it would have had a much darker undertone to it. I originally remember reading that Kubrick intended to have Monica as an abusive drunk. This would have taken away from much of the emotion that we felt for her and David, since we'd have to settle with the fact that Monica was a bad person and could never change. And the last 20 minutes of this film just bleed Speilberg, in that it trys to bring a positive light to the movie. It's called emotianl masturbation, and I don't think this kind of subject needed it, considering how depressing the rest of the movie was. Speilberg tried to sqeeze too much in to little time.

Like I said before, if Kubrick had made this film, it would have been darker. But it also would have been more human, because as we know, life doesn't always finish off on a happy fairy-tale note...like A.I. did. However, I also read that Kubrick wasn't prepared to make A.I., and he wanted to hand it over to Speilberg to direct, while he'd produce it. With Speilberg directing and Kubrick producing, it would have either ruined the film due to a possible clashing between two master filmmakers, or it would produce a cinematic masterpiece. Either way, we'll sadly never know.

Still, I more or less enjoyed A.I. despite its flaws, but I'll always wonder how it would have been with Kubrick's oversight.