AI Artificial Intelligence

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

I just saw AI for the first time a couple days ago. Amazing! What an epic film! I wish I had seen it in the theater. I don't understand all the criticism. Just goes to show don't always trust the critics. Wow, just wow.

PS: I used the search function to no avail in trying to find an AI thread. Apologies if I missed it.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Yes! An excellent film. Personally I feel very identified with it, as I always had this fear as a kid of losing my mother and that really troubled me. Spoilers ahead:

For example, the scene where the mother leaves the kid in the woods is incredibly saddening, at least for me. The acting by Osment is incredible, so realistic.

Most people believe the ending is a happy ending, but it's not. It's a pure Kubrick ending. It basically says that there is no God and that all your dreams are hopeless, or something like that. I don't agree, but it's pure Kubrick.

And the score is amazing too. Spielberg needs to make more "edgy" films like this one.

[GoodMusician 56]

To me the film does something that doesn't usually happen in films: It asks you to question a lot of what you know.

I think that's where the criticism came. Most people wouldn't/ couldn't overcome the barrier of believing in David or in David's love. They were too busy being creped out. I honestly found when i first saw it that a great deal of the family scenes were... uncomfortable to watch-like being at a friends house and watching their parent scream at them-sort of uncomfortable. Great drama. Great acting. Great music. Brilliant cinematography and BRILLIANT set designs... (I want the house!)

One of the things about the film too is its interplay of the relationship of the mother and "child." Never having had a relationship with my mother, it hit kinda hard too. Seeing the extents the child would go through to make his mother love him... well.. I think it says all it needs to.

The supermecha also are necessary: a reasonable next step for the story to be fully rounded. They aren't "aliens" and they aren't spielbergs addition. It had to happen. The story had to go there. Most people i talked to said the film was "over" when David got trapped in the amphibicopter. Not so. It needed to find the finale and it only happens the way it does in the film.

There are also a ton of unanswered questions per Kubric usual: did the supermecha make an artificial simulation of Davids house? Did they really bring Monica back corporially or just her consciousness in this fake area they watched him in.

When David went to sleep, did he die too?

It really was very touching. I can't watch the movie without bawling my eyes out.

I argue there isn't a single bad frame in that film. You could no doubt stop that movie and make a poster of every single frame.

I also love the little cameos. You have Meryl Streep as Blue Fairy, the lady who plays Tan Wee from Star Wars Episode II was discovered through this film (The lady at the flesh fair 'Anyone loose this toy?'), of course Robin Williams, and the mother from CAPRICA was the lady who hires Gigolo Joe ("I'm scared." "Of me?" "Of what you have under there. Can I see it?"), the jealous husband who killed his wife was on 'Just Shoot Me,' the brilliant character actor of Mad Eye Moody played the Mecha Hunter who's name i've forgotten, the mother later used in Minority Report whose scenes were cut, Brett Kingsley from Schnidlers List gave his voice to a character, even one of the boys in the car that bring David and Joe to Rouge City was D.J. Conner in Roseanne! I mean come on... these are all big actors known for a big thigns lol...and they get one line...literally a walk on roll. lol...

It's a brilliant film start to finish. THe score is amazing. period. It is amazing. I had trouble with it when i first heard it before i saw the movie, once i saw the movie, it is a score i turn to on a blue, cloudy day heh.

Brilliant.

[Musica42 0]

Agreed. Of all the John Williams scores I own, when it came down to choosing the one I wanted to try and get signed, I chose A.I. I like to think I'm the only person on the planet with a signed A.I. CD, thus putting me in some special bracket of super fandom.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'd choose Munich, and then I'd definitely be the only person with a signed Munich CD

Star Wars, Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones... he's signed thousands of those. I want to bring him something like Stanley & Iris or Cinderella Liberty and see his reaction.

[Quintus 5,399]

I've only seen AI once, when it first came out. I should see it again.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I think it's Steve's best film since Temple of Doom.

[publicist 4,643]

To me the film does something that doesn't usually happen in films: It asks you to question a lot of what you know.

I think that's where the criticism came. Most people wouldn't/ couldn't overcome the barrier of believing in David or in David's love. They were too busy being creped out.

The criticism sprung from an unsatisfyingly realized film. I never was creeped out, just mildly bored by Spielberg's bumpy storytelling.

[A24 4,331]

And it gets extremely "bumpy" and unsubtle during act 2 and 3. The first act is okay though. But just like the score goes from John Adams to Whitney Houston ballads, the film doesn't know which direction it's going either.

[Quintus 5,399]

I just remember that whilst I enjoyed it on the whole, the usual Spielberg slushiness creeping in here and there took the edge of it somewhat. Whenever he attempts somber, or stark material, it's annoys me when he can't fight his eternal urge to sprinkle a dash of sugar over the contrasting events of earlier in the movie. One can even see it coming: the very aesthetic of the picture begins to soften as the frankly tiresome Spielberg sentimentally yet again rears its head.

His approach isn't right for certain movies, AI being one of them. It's a shame Kubrick never did get to make it. I imagine it would've been glorious.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I just remember that whilst I enjoyed it on the whole, the usual Spielberg slushiness creeping in here and there took the edge of it somewhat. Whenever he attempts somber, or stark material, it's annoys me when he can't fight his eternal urge to sprinkle a dash of sugar over the contrasting events of earlier in the movie. One can even see it coming: the very aesthetic of the picture begins to soften as the frankly tiresome Spielberg sentimentally yet again rears its head.

His approach isn't right for certain movies, AI being one of them. It's a shame Kubrick never did get to make it. I imagine it would've been glorious.

I can appreciate that probably counts for some of his movies, but I didn't see it in A.I. I thought some of it was decidedly un-Spielberg, and while I think that kind of material potentially does surface at the end, but not in the way Spielberg intended (and I disagree with the man himself that it's a happy ending, far from it, but perhaps that's what Kubrick meant).

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

In general, I liked the first hour or hour 1/2 for whatever reason. It's just watchable. I like how it begins sort of as a robot anthology. First, there's the story of the boy, then the sex robot, then, err, never mind. I felt like we shouldn't have known the boy was a robot. He is, after all, a soulless automaton programmed to "love". The ingredients were there for a twist to occur 3/4 of the way through. An actual "twist" at that point, for starters, the storyline of the inventor's little boy and the robot being modeled on him. Alas, we knew the whole way through we were watching a robot. That's not how the original story goes.

Don't get me wrong, I couldn't take my eyes off it until the overlong climax (at which point, there was a problem with the projector which prolonged the movie). But there's something about it I don't exactly "get". I guess because it's Kubrick and I've never really been a fan. Spielberg's fingerprints are all over it, but it is still decidedly Kubrick. Like, hey "we don't need any twist ending--let's have the audience THINK! So here's some fairy, ice age, advanced future androids without wi-fi, city of sex."

[publicist 4,643]

I can appreciate that probably counts for some of his movies, but I didn't see it in A.I. I thought some of it was decidedly un-Spielberg, and while I think that kind of material potentially does surface at the end, but not in the way Spielberg intended (and I disagree with the man himself that it's a happy ending, far from it, but perhaps that's what Kubrick meant).

It feels awkward, anyway. The first act is okay, if a bit lifeless. The second act has wild shifts in tone (not to mention the terrible Flesh Fair, which is one of those disgusting 'liberal Hollywood' notions about the cruel proles down there in the gutter...they're still good enough to finance the fancy Bel Air villas when paying for bad movies, it seems) and the third act tries to hammer home the meaning of it all.

I blame screenwriter Spielberg here, since he has some neat visual ideas in dire need of a better script.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I can appreciate that probably counts for some of his movies, but I didn't see it in A.I. I thought some of it was decidedly un-Spielberg, and while I think that kind of material potentially does surface at the end, but not in the way Spielberg intended (and I disagree with the man himself that it's a happy ending, far from it, but perhaps that's what Kubrick meant).

It feels awkward, anyway. The first act is okay, if a bit lifeless. The second act has wild shifts in tone (not to mention the terrible Flesh Fair, which is one of those disgusting 'liberal Hollywood' notions about the cruel proles down there in the gutter...they're still good enough to finance the fancy Bel Air villas when paying for bad movies, it seems) and the third act tries to hammer home the meaning of it all.

I blame screenwriter Spielberg here, since he has some neat visual ideas in dire need of a better script.

The flesh fair is the worst part of the film, for sure.

[Ollie 1,059]

Whatever faults the film may have, the score is sublime.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

This is the film that solidified the fact that Speilberg was in decline. It's a bad movie. It features good acting (Gigidy Gigidy Joe), mediocre(HJO, which falls squarely at SS feet), and bad acting (francis O'conner). The score is a solid 3.5 to 4 star score but the electronic stuff is bad. Most technical aspects of the film are typically solid Spielberg, but the director who boldly stated in his Oscar acceptance speech for SL that the writing has to get better, needed to listen to himself. The script is excessive, needing to be truncated. There are some stunning sequences in this film, but there are cringe worthy moments as well, too many of them. The film is cold and lifeless, without a heart. The ending is confusing, all 3 of them. For many the Aliens are just that Aliens, for others they are advanced robots the future of Teddy. This is a fanboy film to be certain. Most non fanboys hate this movie. It seems to be a polarizing film with fans at extreme ends with few in the middle. Lots of I love this film or I hate this film but few it was OKAY.

[joelparnis 0]

I love this film, and find its flaws make it all the more interesting. I agree that there does seem to be something wrong with the script and the way the ending is paced makes it feel like there are several false endings and as a result audiences do get fatigued before the film reaches what should be its emotional climax. Sadly a lot of general viewers have lost interest by that point and what should be a real moment for the character is completely missed which is a shame.

I thing i find so fascinating about the end is that it feels like Spielberg sentiment but deep down it is a much colder ending and much more Kubrick. The fact of the matter is that David's dream final day is completely fabricated, none of it is real, and i imagine that when he 'dies' he is actually just being shut down because the super robots can see what he has been through and decide to give his programmed mind an equally programmed sense of going to sleep and resting in peace. Its actually a complete reversal of sentimentality in my opinion and i love the film for being the massive and complex film experiment it became (i say experiment because it really is a mesh of two very different styles of direction meeting in the middle). Some people love it and some people hate it.

The score is one of my absolute favourites of Williams. Its odd that considering the story is about artificial emotions that the score conjures so much genuine heart ache. I was on the bus listening to the soundtrack for the first time in years just the other day and there were moments that i actually could feel my heart welling up with emotion just from the music; 'Stored memories' 'Abandoned in the woods' and especially 'the search for the blue fairy' are filled with moments of such heart breaking sadness that you wouldn't think the film was scored for character without a heart.

If you haven't gathered yet... I LOVE this score!!

[Quintus 5,399]

I think Kubrick's photography and subdued, crisp lighting would improve this film considerably. One of my biggest complaints is that it's just too damn colourful, too glossy.

[Red 75]

It's one of Spielberg's most challenging films, that's for sure. There's a lot to love, and I do love most of it, but I can also sympathize greatly with the detractors. One thing I hope most can agree on is the quality of the score, it's truly one of Williams' best in the last decade.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I'm somewhere in the middle but I have no solid footing. I feel like it may be a gigantic train wreck, it may not be. But either way, until the finale, it's pretty tough to take my eyes off it. Whatever that means. I'd buy the Blu-ray.

[John Crichton 4]

I'm the opposite of most of the comments here, I think it starts out horribly and almost painfully slow, then gradually gets better and better up until the quite lovely ending. I do see why people tear it apart so much.

Whatever faults the film may have, the score is sublime.

Truth.

[A24 4,331]

I think it starts out horribly and almost painfully slow, then gradually gets better and better ...

Only if you expect another Indiana Jones ride. The film gets a lot more 'ride-ish' and less cerebral after the first act.

[Thor 7,497]

Fantastic score for a fantastic film, one of my all-time favourites and also one of the most underrated films of all time. Here's my article on the film:

http://montages.no/2010/01/a-i-artificial-intelligence-2001/

Use Google translate to get the gist of it, if interested.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Any old iron. Any old iron.

Expel your Mecha. Purge yourselves of artificiality.

[GoodMusician 56]

We wouldn't want a repeat of the Trenton incident

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It was certainly my good fortune running into You--!"

[Jay 37,355]

"As we continue to explore ILM's visual effects history, our colleagues Industrial Light & Magic unearthed this rare behind-the-scenes footage from "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" which marked the first-ever real-time previsualization system for use on set. Now a common tool, this was on the cutting edge 20 years ago as one of ILM's pioneering contributions to what we now know of as virtual production and ILM's StageCraft toolset."

 

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