Uncanny

The plot was intriguing in this small flick, and the acting was quite good. It took me about 30 min into the movie to start to suspect what going on, but I was not trying to figure out the movie. This was a cool little sci-fi flick. Nothing earth shattering but well done and entertaining. I am glad I watched it. I like the theme of Robots and humans. I love the show Real Humans (2012– ) "Äkta människor" from Sweden. In that show they called the Robots, Hubots- best name ever. Now it has been remade for the UK/US version, (not nearly as good as the Swedish version). Still good. Those shows take the theme of Uncanny further.

Comparisons with 'EX MACHINA' is inevitable, the set up is almost identical; 1 scientist has created a shockingly human-like robot and 1 person is sent to investigate just how life-life the robot actually is.

But let it be known that in no way is this a rip-off of said movie as it was released just 9 days after 'EX MACHINA' was... Hardly enough time to write a script of this magnitude and cast it as well as this was cast etc etc.

The acting is great (Mark Webber is just one hit-movie away from becoming an a-lister I believe, if you've seen him in other things you know that this performance is very unlike his usual performances, if he even has such a thing) and the atmosphere as well.

The writing is very good for the more part, I was slightly let down by the ending though I must admit but I still enjoyed the movie as a whole and will most likely watch again sometime.

If you like low-key up close and personal sci-fi's then this will most certainly do.

The movie is drawn out, and while it is a low budget, the whole movie is paced like the prologue to a story that never shows anything new. To make an AI story boring and standard is sad because there is so much interesting potential but the movie never dives deep into any of the concepts and fails to ignite the audiences attention.

The actors in this movie are fine, with a few moments that are good or very good. I have no serious complaints about any of the characters or actors as such. However, the story somehow never lets them do anything interesting, every part of their story unfolds at a steady pace without bringing anything interesting to the mix.

The movie needed more intrigue and a faster pace, and the twist the movie tries to throw is extremely unremarkable. There are 100 more interesting things that could have been done that would have thrown the audience for a loop in a satisfying way.

"This kid the next big thing? Some Asperger's cousin of yours ready to get all Good Will Hunting on coding and change the world?"

Was "Ex Machina" according to you the epitome of future technology and a demonstration of potential consequences of it, "Uncanny" is for sure a level higher. Not because of the shown interior design or the futuristic technologies, but because of the surprising denouement. Despite the austere imagery and decidedly lower budget, this film managed to captivate me pleasantly. Especially because of the interactions between the characters. Ditto as in "Ex Machina", the number of protagonists is limited, so the focus is on the dialogs. Eventually they didn't end up in a tangle of irrelevant side issues. And despite the limited display of high-end technologies, the intellectual level was boosted by a series of (for me anyway) incomprehensible, technological gibberish such as aerated titanium, convert a hemispheric image into a planar representation, chambered baths of synthetic hymotrips, proloanaprotiese that demolishes gluten, pesinium vibo receptors en proprioceptive information. I'm not an engineer. That became clear after a while, because it went over my head at certain times.

It seems that artificial intelligence and robotics are the new, sexy hype. During the last year we were bombarded with films which had this as a central theme. Besides "Ex Machina" we were also treated to "Automata", "Chappie", "Transcendence", "The Machine" and "Her". Every movie demonstrated the dangers that lie in the further development of A.I. Should we worry about these self-developing machines getting a self-consciousness? And what about certain ethical issues? How will these highly intelligent beings operate in our society? And how will these artificial individuals react and act towards humans? This latter aspect was subtly elaborated in this rather excellent, low-budget film. A complex interplay between human individuals and an artificial,eerily human-looking robot. What takes place before your eyes, is a complicated love triangle with an android whose feelings resemble those of humans. With jealousy playing a major role.

The most striking is obviously the acting performance of David Clayton Rogers as Adam, the autonomously operating robot designed by David Kressen (Mark Webber). The way he plays Adam is sublime throughout the film. He acts in such a way that you're convinced that he's truly an artificially intelligent being. That puzzled look and the astonishment about the way David and Joy respond to him. That lost look while he's scanning all possible feedbacks in his mind, after which a stream of words follow as if he's quoting from a Wikipedia page. His designer sometimes exhibits the same characteristics. So you start to wonder if he isn't an android as well. The way he formulated his response whether or not joy is pretty for example: Her hair is nice. Good facial symmetry. Delicate features. Nice fashion sense. Yes, I do. I think she's pretty.

And finally there's Joy (Lucy Griffiths), an intelligent journalist who studied robotics (but as far as I understood she didn't graduate) and someone who worked on or designed a game called "Aquaria 3". Apparently this game was so successful, it wasn't necessary for her to continue her studies. This was the only thing that bothered me. Why was she chosen to be the person to write a report about such a highly technological issue? Or was there an additional plan specially created for her? Anyway, her performance were convincing enough.

I'm sure many will say this film is as slow as a snail and there's an absence of action and excitement. But the gradual build up, brilliant dialogs and subtle interplay of the characters is necessary so that the denouement will come as a surprise. Although I had two specific outcomes in mind, it still was an intriguing film with a disturbing result. Let me end with a slightly humorous remark: I'm sure that Adam is the ultimate dream for a woman ... a sophisticated home-garden-kitchen robot with "Tarzan" -like features ... Well, I guess the vision of the future will look appetizing for some.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

This film is probably going to be compared to ex machina because of the similar theme. It is a completely different story so do not fear repetition if you have seen ex machina.

I will not reveal any of the story line - I have seen one of the reviews on here that does actually indicate part of the storyline. The story is quite slow so it is not really a popcorn flick. I do not remember ever feeling bored. The story unfolds at a fairly casual rate.

The acting is good. The characters are intriguing and quite varied. I though the lady was actually quite unpleasant and childish (even for her age group) but she was not necessarily unbelievable. I am sure certain people will empathize with her.

Just remember that it is a low budget movie with very few actors. Take it for what it is but bear in mind that it is probably better than many films that had a far higher budget.