By Jesus Figueroa
The sci-fi story of “Automata” puts robots into a future chaotic world as slaves for the humans who were lucky to survive.
Lead actor Antonio Banderas has a stellar performance but falls short of being the most exciting part of the film.
In a world that has been destroyed by solar flares and only a mere 22,000 people lucky to survive, robots called Automatas live only to serve their human masters.
The main company builds the Automatas to not harm humans and to not be able to repair themselves in hopes that the Automatas would not malfunction and turn on human beings.
When Wallace, played by Dylan McDermott, finds an Automata repairing itself, he destroys it and reports the malfunction.
McDermott plays a dark character, who is violent and aggressive. Alongside Banderas, he is a much more powerful character.
Insurance agent Jacq Vaucan, played by Banderas, is sent to investigate and disprove that an Automata can malfunction in such a manner.
Banderas is excellent, but his charisma is lacking and at points comes off as cold and unemotional.
Jacq awaits his wife Rachel Vaucan, played by Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, giving birth to their child so they can get away from the disorder in the world they live in, but he has one last job to investigate.
Sorensen is hardly seen in the film, and the brief times she’s on screen, it is confusing to figure out what role she plays.
The Automata robots seem glitchy and move awkwardly but capture many human emotions that the rest of the world’s human characters lack.
When Jacq digs deeper he uncovers a group of Automata’s lead by the original Automata that helped create the program to control the rest.
The film in its entirety feels slow and the story drags, but the concept is spectacular. The execution may be lacking, but the commentary this film has on the human condition keeps it entertaining.
The ending is unusual but in a good way. It leaves a bit of confusion and may continue to have the audiences thinking long after the movie is over.