Swift shot: A film about robots that questions the limits and definition of life. We’ve seen it before. There is nothing original about that message, but Automata is incredibly original in its delivery. Set in post-toxic Earth 2044, so only thirty years in the future, Automata uses exceptional cinematography and near seamless effects to paint a bleak picture for mankind. Mankind is on the way out.
Starring Antonio Banderas as Jacq Vaucan, an insurance investigator for ROC, the company that designed the Automata, robots with two protocols, and one purpose. Their purpose was to build radioactive proof walls from the encroaching toxic desert wasteland that has destroyed all but three percent of humanity. In the opening credits, it is briefly explained that they blew it. Their new role is to serve man, essentially as household servants and menial laborers. You know, Union work.
I mentioned the Automata’s two protocols, first they can’t harm anything living, and second, they can’t alter any robots, including themselves.
Jacq is on a call to investigate a rogue cop who claims that one of the Automata had to be destroyed, (a Pilgrim model) because it was altering itself . . . repairing itself. Again, no spoiler alert is needed, the struggle for life is what Automata is all about, and the lengths we as humans go to protect the weakest of our species. The Automata are no exception to the evolutionary struggle for survival. But as Jacq discovers, there is more to life than simply surviving, life should have a purpose, not a deadline.
He wants desperately to move to the coast with his very pregnant wife. Thing is, the coast may or may not exist anymore, as swimmable oceans are only a myth. This is where I called bullshit, I am from Fort Lauderdale, and I can tell you, if even an inch of ocean was around, there would be lines of people waiting for their turn to dip in a toe or two. So, if the coast existed or didn’t exist, it would be a known quantity.
Regardless, the point is Jacq wants more for his family, but he never wanted a family. His wife, Rachel (Birgitte Hjort Sorensen) insisted they keep the baby, to bring it into such a bleak world, Jacq assumed is child abuse. Still, he has other concerns now, like why are all these Automata suddenly shirking the second protocol? With his boss, Bob (Robert Forster) basically telling him to stop asking questions and just bury things, Jacq is a tenacious investigator. He is good at his job, and that fact costs several people their lives.
As he gets closer to the truth, Jacq learns that life is always worth fighting for and finds himself in a new struggle and takes on a new role.
This film will mostly appeal to the sci-fi crowd, but it will hold your attention throughout. The robots aren’t anything spectacular, they look a bit feeble, but that is by design, as they are crawling, rather than walking and demanding their, dare I say it, autonomy. The world Director Gabe Ibanez portrays is bleak, disgusting, surrounded by darkness and a layer of grime and dust that covers everything. There is no hope to be found, and sometimes a little hope is a curse, and a lot of hope can be a delusion when the world has a deadline.
