The Machine (2013)

The Machine: Directed by Caradog W. James. With Toby Stephens, Caity Lotz, Denis Lawson, Sam Hazeldine. In efforts to construct perfect android killing machines in a war against China, UK scientists exceed their goal and create a sentient robot.

“The Machine is a rather successful attempt at implementing hard science fiction tendencies with a cyberpunk aesthetic. It may not be particularly adroit in terms of human and AI relationships, but I appreciate the rigor of the scientific explanation for the artificial intelligence. The film really excels at this in the beginning when Vincent conducts his own Turing tests as part of a secret headhunting operation. Then as he meets Ava things start taking a problematic turn. The military-industrial complex is invoked, but its purpose is sort of shadowy and never is contextualized in a way that would make the narrative more coherent.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe questioning of human identity is the strongest point of the film, but I suppose that, at the very core, this film was more interested in being a thriller, rather than an exploration of the philosophical concepts.”