Automata review from Millennium Entertainment, starring Antonio Banderas and robots!

Robots are cool. The idea of mankind creating artificial life that can do jobs and perform functions that we cannot is amazing. How nice would it be to have robot in your house that will scoop the cat litter box, wash your dishes, vacuum, and care for your baby while you are at work? The savings alone would be astronomical. A few movies have started with this premise and the newest one Automata is the subject of this review.

Let’s start off by addressing the elephant in the room.  This is not iRobot (for the purposes of this article I, Robot is the beautifully done Isaac Asimov book series and iRobot is the 2004 robot movie with Will Smith as Columbo) nor does it pretend to be.  It has a similar background like how all romantic comedies are in a universe where they don’t understand romance or comedy.  Automata has a much different story than iRobot and I like both of these movies for much different reasons.  Automata is about Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Benderas), a claims adjuster for ROC, the corporation at the helm of robotic intelligence.  Vaucan investigates cases and complaints surrounding defective Automata (androids) in a dystopian future where the environment is similar to a Mad Max-like environment of vast deserts.  He uncovers secrets behind who is manipulating Automata to be able to self-modify, which is a violation of the second protocol (similar to the 3 laws of robotic in iRobot). After that, the movie takes off into a race to find the source of the modifier and the future of the Automata.

In most of his movies, Banderas is superb, and this movie is no exception.  He is engaging as a protagonist and his point of view is easy to relate to.  The supporting cast varies in quality, which is even more prominent when going up against the strong performance of Banderas.  Birgitte Hjort Sørensen who plays Rachel, Jacq’s wife, was the weak link. She goes through the film with a vacant expression and inability to emote. This made her scenes Benderas difficult to enjoy and relate to.  Melanie Griffith is more plastic than most of the Automata in the film and it makes her role rather cringe-worthy. Part of me was hoping that when she came on-screen it would turn in to a Cherry 2000 sequel. Cherry 2045: Automata.

The script was enjoyable.  I liked the overall story, development, and dialog. I didn’t feel there was any scenes there weren’t needed for the film.  It wasn’t hard to follow and I wasn’t left with tons of questions.  Being Gabe Ibáñez’s second go as director and first as a writer, he did a fine job.  I hope he does some more Sci-Fi soon.

Special effects were very well done and were easily on par with anything out currently. I liked the more realistic-looking robots in this than previous movies with androids.  A fair amount of Sci-Fi focuses on making them look too “futuristic”.  I don’t see any company trying to sell partially see-through robots. I am likely nitpicking, but I wouldn’t want some creepy looking partially transparent android in my house watching my kids.  Might as well put up clown wallpaper and get them a couple My Buddy dolls while I’m at it.

Automata has far more good than bad and it definitely gets the status of ‘worth a go’.  If you only see one Sci-Fi movie this year watch Guardians of the Galaxy.  If you plan on watching a few more, I would put Automata near the top of the list. Automata is to Zune what iRobot was to the iPod. A perfectly good counterpart that just won’t be as popular for reasons I can’t understand.