I am myself to blame for only looking at IMDb ratings and the occasional movie trailer from the mall screens, but I still can't believe that this is not a movie that everyone is talking about. It's great!
A post apocalyptic movie made by Spain and Bulgaria, it shows an insurance agent (the only people who actually do any motivated detective work :) ) trying to find out what is going on with robots behaving strangely. Two laws are restricting said robots from harming people and from altering any robots and it appears someone has found away around these hardcoded rules.
The film reminded me of Blade Runner, obviously, but it went a slightly different direction, more akin to Sector 9. The gruesomeness of the dirty city and the violent slums outside it is clear and uncompromising - think Brazil meets Cidade de Deus. The acting is good, slightly overemotional in the case of Antonio Banderas - but he is Spanish, so we understand, and completely balanced by the coolness of the Blue Robot (Javier Bardem, lol). I couldn't really find a problem with the direction and the script was great!
So, bottom line: a wonderful film. It shows that it is not the highest budget movie in the world, but it more than compensates through story, details, acting and even casting. I thought McDermott's character was a very good one to explain the overall attitude of humans towards robots and it felt like they could have added some more to it. If you liked Blade Runner you will love this movie! See how a little European vision can change how a movie feels to you.
