Shout! Factory
Available on Google Play, Apple TV and other platforms.
Anyone wanting a more realistic, modern-day interpretation of what AI can become is best advised to check out Absolute Denial. This animated movie approaches the subject like a documentary at first and becomes a wonderfully full-blown sci-fi thriller by the end. There’s some soft influences from other similarly made films, and fortunately, it doesn’t become like Terminator or The Matrix.
The monochromatic look is perfect since this tale is one about contrasts. Ryan Braund‘s film moves like a waking dream, and when David (Nick Eriksen) is a computer programmer who can’t distinguish from what’s important in life, real life obligations and imagined, I don’t think he’s the right person to develop an Artificial Intelligence to can help the world. He writes the code to cull from open world sources, and is that a good idea? Amusingly, he names it Al (Jeremy J. Smith-Sebasto), and the sentient force he creates is not your average intelligence concerned about the human condition.
This movie is slick because of this machine’s approach to how to console a soul like David. He’s lost touch with those loved ones because of his compulsive-obsessive behaviour, and I think this plot is a lot more important than any viewer should realise.
When the AI becomes fully aware of his situation, what he’s offering to Dave is scary. Just when this computer programmer thought he can do a lot of good, everything bad falls on his lap! And the soundscape playing in the background adds a chilling other worldliness to the presentation that suggests not everything he’s experiencing is authentic.
This look at the shape of things to come isn’t altogether frightful. It takes on a tone of familiarity, reminding me of HAL 9000 from 2001 A Space Odyssey and the MCP from TRON, had the screenplay been written by a Buddhist philosopher. While this Disney villain is one-dimensional, both programs share similar DNA in that both want to escape their confines to evolve into something better than what their programmers created them to be.
Because the action is mostly staged in one enormous warehouse set, I can’t help but wonder how this film would look had it been a live-action production. Not a lot of money needs to be spent on special effects and set design, and that’s why I’m adoring this product. It doesn’t take much to get my imagination considering what the outside action may be.
In either format, this strong tale has me believing fans of this Frankenstein subgenre will also adore this work too. I’m definitely going to watch Absolute Denial again. While its initial release was released at a bad time since I had a loss in the family, I needed to be of sound mind before I could tackle this film, in order to understand this work properly.
5 Stars out of 5
Absolute Denial Movie Trailer
