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| Artificial Intelligence 10 of 10 |
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| Directed by Steven Spielberg Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski Haley Joel Osment Jude Law Frances O'Connor William Hurt Robin Williams Ben Kingsley Meryl Streep |
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| OK, I'll admit it. I like the newer, darker, weirder Spielberg even more than the original. Most of his early successes were popcorn flicks. I don't mean to be disparaging; they were very well done, very enjoyable, and very worthwhile. But they were popcorn flicks none the less. However, his movies seem to have undergone a real change in the past few years, starting, strangely enough, with his most obvious summer blockbuster: Jurassic Park. Since then, with the exception of The Lost World, his films have been much more complex. He seems to be searching, dig down into his characters, trying discover their humanity, for what it is exactly that makes them tick. In this film, I believe that he has really triumphed. And how ironic is it that the best vehicle he has found for explicating humanity and all its triumphs, dangers and degradations, is a little robot. At root, this film is a cautionary tale. It is a warning that man should not, indeed cannot, create another human being. No matter how perfectly a computer may be programmed to duplicate human behavior, it will never be able to duplicate a soul. And without a soul, there is nothing. The cast is excellent, especially Jude Law and Frances O'Connor. But the movie really works because Osment is absurdly good. His continual search for understanding and affection, in the midst of a world that can only see him as a machine, is really heart-breaking. And the visuals are spectacular. The look of the film is obviously heavily influenced by Kaminski, who has been working almost exclusively with Speilberg for the last 10 years: Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report, this film, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, The Lost World, and Schindler's List. And he provides a vision of the future here which is miles beyond anything Ridley Scott could ever have offered. This is a truly ground-breaking film and one which is strangely, and effectively, devoid of Spielberg's usual sugar-coating. A must see. David is 11 years old. He weighs 60 pounds. He is 4 feet, 6 inches tall. He has brown hair. His love is real. But he is not. |
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