The Bottom Line

Raging against the machines.

March 21 (UK)

Caity Lotz, Toby Stephens, Dennis Lawson, Sam Hazeldine

Caradog W. James

Do androids dream of robot love and electric children? That is a key question running through this brooding, stylish, highly atmospheric future-noir thriller. Although he clearly shot his second feature on limited resources, the Welsh writer-director Caradog W. James has already picked up numerous awards and distribution deals.

At times the slender budget lets him down, notably during some threadbare action sequences. But The Machine is still a classy slice of cerebral sci-fi with a literary-cinematic heritage stretching back through Blade Runner and Metropolis to Frankenstein. Opening on UK screens later this month, closely followed by DVD and Blu-Rayrelease, it should find a modest but devoted cult audience both domestically and overseas.

TV REVIEW:Resurrection

The setting is a near-future Britain blighted by both economic and literal gloom, a dystopian land of perpetual darkness and military-industrial paranoia. The West is battling China in a new Cold War, with artificial intelligence rather than nuclear weapons fueling the latest superpower arms race. Toby Stephens, best known as James Bonds suave nemesis in Die Another Day, plays Vincent McCarthy, a computer expert seeking to perfect super-intelligent androids for his army paymasters.

McCarthys boss Thomson (original Star Wars trilogy veteran Dennis Lawson) dreams of making the perfect robot weapon, but the anguished boffin is motivated by more tragic personal reasons. The arrival of brilliant young American scientist Ava (Caity Lotz) helps him realize his project, as well as providing an obligatory frisson of sexual tension.

Excerpt from:

The Machine: Film Review