Review of Automata (2014) by Demondred79 — 27 Dec 2014

Ignore the overly harsh "professional" critics responses on this one. It certainly isn't without flaws but below 40 makes little sense and simply feels abusive.

Physical props, objects, and most importantly, ROBOTS, versus gobs of CGI really convinces the viewers that this is a realistic near future instead of a video game (I, Robot). Most of the story telling is smart and it held the attentions of not just myself but several family members who aren't into sci-fi, and they had the full option to leave the living room at will.

Here's what got the critics and myself annoyed: Crappy acting.

Antonio sucked...Mel sucked....pretty much everyone sucked except Dylan McDermott.

Secondly the midway trip into the desert scrambled the initial pull of the film.

Lastly, the robot mfg corporation (I forget the name) became the overly obvious "bad guys" without a solid explanation of why they were suddenly the bad guys. The intelligence of the movie took a dip on this one.

Ultimately it was a smart movie (smarter than the individual critics who reviewed it), with some smart visuals and dramatic pauses. The robots were appropriately twitchy with their motion instead of ultra smooth and unconvincing CGI crap. It will make you think but won't break your brain. It will stir your emotions for robotic beings when you didn't think that was possible.

Go watch it.

If it had better acting and tightened up a few things, this would have been a home run.