Automata - Proof that Good Science Fiction is Not Extinct
The so-called "science fiction" movies that Hollywood spits out year after year are far from being science fiction - we should refer to them as "fiction", as 90% of the times they have subjects with no connection whatsoever to science. There are notable exceptions, of course - Interstellar was surprisingly good for a blockbuster, I must say, and Transcendence was also an unexpected pleasant surprise - but very few. Luckily not all movies are made in Hollywood, so fans of the genre - like myself - can still find things to enjoy. One of the few exceptions is Automata, a movie written and directed by Spanish cinematographer Gabe Ibáñez, which has provided me with entertainment I haven't found since the Bicentennial Man (the movie, not the book). Genuine science fiction I was glad to see - more glad than hitting a jackpot at Platinum Play online.
Automata mixes several science fiction genres into one surprising combination. Set in a future after an apocalyptic event - solar flares that have wiped out 99.7% of the population - Automata tells us the story of an insurance agent with the task to investigate cases of robots (automates, this is what the movie's title means in Spanish) violating their primary protocols and illegally modifying themselves. The robots were built by the ROC Corporation, which employs our protagonist Jacq Vaucan (masterfully played by a completely bald Antonio Banderas) to help rebuild the world after the fall. These automates have two basic protocols - not harming humans and not altering themselves in any way. A "clocksmith" is believed to illegally modify these robots, giving them the ability not just to repair themselves (which is also forbidden by the second protocol) but also improve their function. When Jacq finds Cleo, a modified robot at an automaton brother, things take unexpected turns - assassins attempt to kill him, while Cleo saves him and takes him into the desert, where he finds out that there is no "clocksmith", at least not as he believed - there is only the natural course of evolution that has the potential to change the life of the remainder of humanity for good.
The movie is far from being perfect, I must say that much. Its pace is sometimes a bit too slow to be really entertaining, and it mixes in a series of clichés at times. But still, it has the atmosphere of a genuine science fiction story, with concepts that make the audience think. Somebody described Automata as a mix of Blade Runner and any robot tale written by Isaac Asimov - and I tend to agree. It is a movie worth two hours of your life.
