I was very much intrigued by the opening shot of this . A young man stands on a bridge in Amsterdam and has to tell a young woman that the relationship is over . She is angry and hurt and cries is it because her robotic arm freaks him out ? Jump forward 40 years and there seems to be a robot apocalypse due to the woman making herself entirely cybernetic and building a conquering army of robots
At least I think that's what's happened because there's not much exposition as to what has happened in the 40 year gap and it's left for the audience to make up their own mind on the details . Obviously the opening scene is pivotal and all important and ties in with the plot later on but it is slightly frustrating to fill in the gaps for yourself . There might be a train of thought that states short film making should lend itself to ambigeuty and reading between the lines but I must argue when you've got a high concept plot genre that is science fiction you must explain what is happening and why even if it's not in so many words . Instead TEARS OF STEEL concentrates on action and visuals , except I couldn't help thinking there weren't done very well and I don't think it's trying to be sophisticated self knowing parody of Hollywood TRANSFOMER type movies . I have to admit I don't like science fiction blockbusters featuring humans battling giant robots and didn't even like TERMINATOR 2 JUDGEMENT DAY finding it flabby and overblown but I guess it's something of a back handed compliment to the makers of this short that it's no worse than something directed by Michael Bay or Guillermo Del Toro
