Just enough "plot" (ie a setup and a twist if you can call that plot) for a short, scraped over a feature length film.
If the mostly one-man movie was carried by a competent actor, it could have been watchable, barely.
Sadly Theo James is mediocre. His overacting cannot compensate for his dead eyes. Everything he does is phoned in to the point that it quickly becomes hard to watch.
Who would think of casting that guy in a movie that needed presence and an actor's sensibility? Oh right, he would.
Filled with twists and turns, Archive has replay value because it changes your perspective on what's going on as you follow along. It is the story of a man obsessed with using A.I. to bring his wife back from the dead, a tale of obsession at the crossroads between cyberpunk and transhumanity. He already has a couple of bulky prototypes, with relatively simple minds and bodies, and I agree with the consensus that these are very sweet and poignant. A third generation is on the way that's going to change everything. Though perhaps a necessary obfuscation, I admit to being a little bored early on by all the corporate war stuff. Part of the genre, certainly, but rather dull world-building nonetheless when all you really care about is the robots, their relationships with the man, and beyond the scientific exploration of the idea, the grief that comes from disconnectedness - certainly a story for our times.
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BadFluffy
Just enough "plot" (ie a setup and a twist if you can call that plot) for a short, scraped over a feature length film.If the mostly one-man movie was carried by a competent actor, it could have been watchable, barely.
Sadly Theo James is mediocre. His overacting cannot compensate for his dead eyes. Everything he does is phoned in to the point that it quickly becomes hard to watch.
Who would think of casting that guy in a movie that needed presence and an actor's sensibility? Oh right, he would.
Siskoid
Filled with twists and turns, Archive has replay value because it changes your perspective on what's going on as you follow along. It is the story of a man obsessed with using A.I. to bring his wife back from the dead, a tale of obsession at the crossroads between cyberpunk and transhumanity. He already has a couple of bulky prototypes, with relatively simple minds and bodies, and I agree with the consensus that these are very sweet and poignant. A third generation is on the way that's going to change everything. Though perhaps a necessary obfuscation, I admit to being a little bored early on by all the corporate war stuff. Part of the genre, certainly, but rather dull world-building nonetheless when all you really care about is the robots, their relationships with the man, and beyond the scientific exploration of the idea, the grief that comes from disconnectedness - certainly a story for our times.