Banderas' attempt at a sci-fi flick has great potential but it ultimately falls flat.
It's not because of the story. Although the trailer makes it clear that we're dealing with a recycled idea from Asimov's universe (robots that become more human than some humans), the movie barely scratches the surface of the issues at hand and chooses a middle path between a serious deep movie and an action flick and fails at both.
Banderas' character is the only one that interesting and it's easy to follow him and his point of view all the way from a corporate lackey to a guy involved in some ethical dilemmas. He acts well, way better than the movie average.
The first problem is that there aren't any other well-drawn characters. Everyone else is flat, starting from his family, his boss and his opponents. To call them one-dimensional is giving them too much credit, I would say they are soulless and at some point I was really hoping for them to just die and leave us with the robots and Banderas. I can't fault the actors much, it's the script that didn't give them any chance.
The second problem is the plot. Although the story has potential, the plot fails at acquiring it. It won't take long to see that at some point the actions of the 'bad guys' really stop making sense, they are there just as a really poor excuse for some lame attempts at action sequences (I'm not going to detail this as to not give spoilers, suffice to say that the main pretext for the confrontation between the bad guys and Banderas is not necessary at all, if you stop to think about it for a minute given the situation of the humans in the movie and whatnot).
The last one is the soundtrack. It's absolutely atrocious and the sound doesn't fit with the images at all, especially the music sequences.
I will admit that the movie is entertaining for the most part. But that's it. It wastes an amazing potential, fails to explore itself and just throws some lines and some action at you that lacks logic, common sense and characters (save for Banders and the robots).
It's not because of the story. Although the trailer makes it clear that we're dealing with a recycled idea from Asimov's universe (robots that become more human than some humans), the movie barely scratches the surface of the issues at hand and chooses a middle path between a serious deep movie and an action flick and fails at both.
Banderas' character is the only one that interesting and it's easy to follow him and his point of view all the way from a corporate lackey to a guy involved in some ethical dilemmas. He acts well, way better than the movie average.
The first problem is that there aren't any other well-drawn characters. Everyone else is flat, starting from his family, his boss and his opponents. To call them one-dimensional is giving them too much credit, I would say they are soulless and at some point I was really hoping for them to just die and leave us with the robots and Banderas. I can't fault the actors much, it's the script that didn't give them any chance.
The second problem is the plot. Although the story has potential, the plot fails at acquiring it. It won't take long to see that at some point the actions of the 'bad guys' really stop making sense, they are there just as a really poor excuse for some lame attempts at action sequences (I'm not going to detail this as to not give spoilers, suffice to say that the main pretext for the confrontation between the bad guys and Banderas is not necessary at all, if you stop to think about it for a minute given the situation of the humans in the movie and whatnot).
The last one is the soundtrack. It's absolutely atrocious and the sound doesn't fit with the images at all, especially the music sequences.
I will admit that the movie is entertaining for the most part. But that's it. It wastes an amazing potential, fails to explore itself and just throws some lines and some action at you that lacks logic, common sense and characters (save for Banders and the robots).