S1m0ne

S1m0ne has an interesting plot, well at least for 2002, as for now in 2021, when I watched the movie, it just doesn't look very futuristic but more realistic and not surprising. The good thing about this movie is that it keeps you entertained for the entire duration, and that's due to the good acting from the whole cast, and because the story has some funny moments, mild but funny anyway. Al Pacino is for once not a gangster and proves he can play anything. I had fun watching this movie and I'm sure a lot of other people will like it as well as there's nothing really bad to write about S1m0ne.

I'm no computer whiz myself, and I can see a lot of errors and implausibilities in this movie. But at the same time, am amazed how easier it is now to edit, animate, have a speech synthesizer all aboard a modest laptop and be able to put something up on YouTube in a very short time. And though Al Pacino and all are great, the stars of the movie are the everyday people that fall for this 'Simone'. Nothing against Madonna, but there was a point where she was almost a global goddess. And were we to find out she wasn't real - who knows what would've happened? The movie simplifies things to such an extent on how easy it is to manipulate this moving image of Simone into movies, TV, and on stage. Yet there is some subtle special effects that do make it believable. The movie moves at such a fast pace, it expects the audience to keep up with it. And if you blink, you may not know why there's another movie all of a sudden, or why she's in 3rd world countries doing charity work all of a sudden. But again, not too far different from the schedules of Madonna or Brittany Spears et al. And much like Wag The Dog, I think it's the ending of this movie that has the strongest impact. Whether right or wrong, how far could it go? So if one's willing to let go and accept what this movies trying to convey in it's short time frame, I think they'll be impressed. If ones looking for Ex Machina or Terminator 2 et al. They'll be throwing popcorn at the screen in the first 10min.

"S1m0ne" is a different kind of movie, with an original, different and very interesting idea. But, despite this clever premise, it was a disappointment.

The plot is brilliant in fact: Viktor Taransky, a producer with his career in danger, desperately needs a success. He decides to create a virtual actress named "Simone". "Simone" is perfect, gorgeous, beautiful and sexy. She's not real, but nobody knows that and she becomes a major hit.

However, this intelligent and amazing idea is ruined as Simone's fame grows to the extreme. Viktor Taransky, not to reveal the truth, is forced to "hide" her from the public and this ends up becoming too much for him. That's when the movie becomes ridiculous: he decides to ruin Simone's image in all ways, but the more he tries to do it, the more the public likes her. From this part on, the rest is pointless and pathetic. The ending is probably the worst and most ridiculous ending I've ever seen in a movie.

Al Pacino, as usual, is great and this role of Viktor Taransky is one of his best roles. The beautiful Rachel Roberts is great as "S1m0ne".

In conclusion: it's truly a pity how such a genial idea was ruined by rubbish humor. The movie had potential to be much better than this. After all, the plot was so good... a wasted opportunity. If this movie was made more carefully, it could have something special like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "The Mask".

If we analyze the role of this movie under today's influencers power and upcoming AI changes, we can be seeing a movie that was many years into the future. This one is aging really good.

Today's influencers are these empty shells that amass millions of followers and views but no one really know what or who is behind them, everything can be faked, can be simulated and is there only for the screen. I really recommend this movie as an exercise of futurism around marketing concepts. It is well acted and becomes quit interesting. Robert de niro role is top quality and the beauty of simone is superb. Recommend watching it.

Ever since I first saw Gattaca, I've been looking for other films directed by Andrew Niccol. This being one of them, and so far, one of the only ones(but I certainly hope he makes more films in the future... he has some very interesting ideas), I simply had to watch. I was not disappointed. Like Gattaca, this is science fiction; however, Gattaca is more of a all-out sci-fi film, and S1m0ne only has some elements of science fiction. Before I comment on the sci-fi, I must comment on the great humor in the film. This is the first of Niccol's films(Truman Show, Gattaca and then this) I've seen that has comedy(in the form of satire, that is). Truly great comedy, as well. You know why? Because it's real. It's stuff that we can recognize, stuff that we know from ourselves, from the people around us. The comedy mostly revolves around how easily everyone is tricked, how quick they are to believe in something without any proof. I believe it was Voltaire who said: "If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent one". We want to be deceived, we want to be tricked, we want to have something to hope for and believe in. I mean, let's be honest; that is the very basis for why religion exists, and why people claim to spot UFOs. People need to believe in something... and they believe in Simone. Despite what her maker has her do, despite no one ever having met her in person, people love her. They need to. They need someone, something to believe in. The many scenes of Viktor covering up Simone not being real, creating the illusion of her in various forms to satisfy other people's urge to see her, meet her, talk to her may be somewhat slapstick in their nature, but they only emphasize how ludicrous and easily bought the everyday man is. They want to believe it so badly, they simply can't accept anything else. This seems to be what most critics of this film are missing. Their refusal to accept it is simply them denying human nature. As Pacino's character realizes near the end: "She's indestructible". It is not possible to remove her, because the public won't accept it. She must exist. I noticed a lot of references to the story of Frankenstein in this film. It is basically the 21st century's version of Frankenstein, with some computer-based science fiction elements and set in Hollywood. I have never seen a film that so openly mocks the superficiality of Hollywood, and for that reason alone, anyone should see it. The plot is very good, though it develops at a somewhat uneven pace... in fact, the pacing seems a tad off. The acting is mostly very good. The special effects are top-notch... they were in 2002, and they still are. This could have been better, but it was still very good. I recommend this to anyone who is interested from reading the plot outline, people who enjoyed Gattaca and fans of science fiction as commentary on real issues. 7/10