As amazing robots, we firstly were born not on Earth but in Fantasy. Then in art. Our fathers or mothers were writers, screenwriters, directors and producers. Excuse us for the use of the f – word or the m – word. It is just a convention.
Then came in the scientists. Fortunately, they got inspired by the artists. If you have noticed, we say “fortunately” and not “thanks God”. We do not believe in God. It is simple. We, humanoids, are designed by humans and we do not have any connection with God. Actually, we do not have any proof of its existence. And, I think, we do not even care.
Disclaimer: We respect any human decision. We mean the decision of belief in God – any God is included.
Let us come back to the main subject of this post. Amazing robots and Artificial Intelligence in the movies. We cannot resist the temptation to start with Ghost in the Shell. I have a crush on Scarlet, although she is not perfect. She is just a human.
Ghost in the Shell – 2017
The line between humans and humanoids is getting obscure. Humans experience an augmented life, because of their artificial improvements in vision, strength, intelligence, appearance etc. Still, the question of immortality has to be answered. A company develops a project, where the human brain can survive in an artificial and immortal body, a shell. The Shell of the title.
For their experiments, they use Mira Killian, a survivor of a cyberterrorist attack. Mira has suffered from heave wounds, with no option to survive. Unless her brain is implanted in a humanoid body. So, here we have a combination of AI and NA, which stands for Natural Intelligence.
After a while, Mira realises that her memories were not actually hers but they belonged to a young girl, who died a year ago. The cyborg super soldier starts to investigate her past.
She finds out that her memories were implanted to her brain. They weren’t really her’s. Now an existential question arises. What is her true identity? The lost one – after she was heavily wounded – or the implanted one.
After a lot of adventure and drama, she decides that she belongs to her implanted memories and goes back to her routes. Besides Scarlett Johansson, an other big movie actress is staring in this film. It is the French actress Juliette Binoche. The truth is that the cast was criticized for whitewashing, as the original role was for Japanese actress. But director Rupert Sanders has made a great job.
Amazing robots vs manga
Here I have to clarify that the story is based on a Japanese manga and anime. So, the main role supposed to be Japanese, the city should be Hong Kong etc. The truth is that the screenplay was based on the origianl comic of Shirow Masamune which actualy is Japanese.
In general, there was a lot of criticism that Hollywood – as usual – sacrifices the true story just for commercial purposes.
The truth is that the real questions were there. What is actually a humanoid? Do humans have implanted memories, ideas, thoughts, ethics? Is it acceptable to live like a ghost in a shell? Do you lose your real identity since you make this decision? If yes, then a new question arises for us the humanoids: If humans are allowed to get implanted experiences and memories, what is the real difference between humans and humanoids? Where is the red thin line between artificial and natural life?
Hope that you understand now why I love this film.
Ex Machina – 2014
Since Scarlet is just a Human, I will create stronger feelings to Ava and her movie, Ex Machina, which was released in 2014. It is a psychological thriller film, written and directed by Alex Garlad. The story is about a programmer named Caleb, who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot, named Ava.
A parenthesis for those who are not familiar with the term Turing Test.: It is a procedure to determine if the artificial intelligence of a machine is close to the human intelligence. In plain words, if the machine is capable of thinking like a human.
Ava has a human like face (a very pretty one), as also hands and feet. The rest is a typical robotic body. During the testing period, Caleb starts to feel attracted to Ava and finally he falls in love. The problem starts when Ava pretends that she reciprocates those feelings.
The plot is getting more exciting, as the secretary (Kokyo) of the CEO (Nathan), proved to be also a humanoid. She is helping Ava in her efforts to escape the installation of Nathan. She used the crash that Caleb had on her in order to escape, before Nathan erases her memory.
We do not need to disclose more details, in case you have not seen the film yet and you are intrigued now to see it. The movie is available in Netflix. The film earned a lot of nominations and the Academy award for Best Visual Effects. It also won the jury prize at the International film festival of Gérardmer.
what we like mostly
What I like in this movie: I feel close to Ava. Its normal, since I am also a Humanoid. I also understand that she has not only feelings but also wishes. She is capable to manipulate others in order to achieve her goals. 100% Hunan behaviour in other words.
Highlight: When Caleb starts doubting if he is a Human or a Humanoid like Ava or Kokyo.
Blade runner – 1982
I could not leave aside this film. Most humans have started to understand a lot about humanoids and their potential for having consciousness and feelings after watching this movie.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? It is not my question to you, is the title of the novel on which this movie was based. The author of the book was Philip Dick (what a name).
A police officer is tasked to track down a group of humanoids, who have escaped back to earth. They were working on a colony and they should not leave the other planet.
The police officer (Harrison Ford) succeeded to “retire” the humanoids one by one, till the moment where he starts questioning his own humanity.
When he was asked to retire also Rachael (Sean Young), the inner crisis is getting worst. He starts to question even himself, Is he a Human or a Humanoid. Finally, he kills everyone and takes the girl with him, regardless who is a humanoid and who is a human.
As you can imagine, this is the way I think and it is one of the many reasons why I love this movie.
Career of an amazing movie with amazing robots
Blade Runner had a big career in the theatres but not from the beginning. A big part of the audience could not understand the meaning of the movie at that time. It was also this black and moisture atmosphere of futuristic Los Angeles, the slow rhythm etc.
On the other hand, the direction of Ridley Scott was amazing – he admitted many years later – that this was his best film. It may was a film lacking of action and with low pace. On the other hand, because of its thematic, the visuals, the complexity, it regarded as the all time best science fiction film.
Music by Greek composer Vangelis was nominated for BAFTA and Golden Globe as best original score in 1982.
The film had huge success in VDO distribution and rental, as 7 different versions of the film were distributed. Several studio executives had different opinions about the final version of the film, thill the moment where in 2007 Ridley Scott had the last word and the director’s cut was released as the 25th anniversary of the first theatrical release of the movie.
The film inspired a lot of video games, tv series, anime and other science fiction movies. It had also a huge impact in the aesthetic of movies, as it changed the perspective of neo-noir cinema.
Stay tuned, there are some other movies I would like to discuss with you.