A.I: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

AI has to be one of the worst Spielberg films. Meandering and never asking nor answering any serious questions.

I disagree that Spielberg never portrays humans as the bad guys. On the contrary, greed, conditional love, non-reciprocal feelings, coldness, abandonment, speciesim, violence, slavery, intolerance and many other themes are ALL here.

Unlike the appraisal here, the humans to me are all portrayed as the bad guys and of course, they're all white. Early signs of wokery showing through.

It's a shame this channel steers clear of the culture wars and the ideologies currently being pushed on the general public, which account for the most important things in this and other forms of entertainment; that being the real intent of each film and what the writer and/or director are trying to say in their message.

I grow tired of the ignorance from this channel of this very important and existential parameter in today's entertainment.

I cry hysterically and uncontrollably saying "please no, no, don't" under my breath every time I watch this film. You know what scene I'm talking about.

All in all, this film suffers from its second half greatly. If not for the second hour, this probably would've been the single greatest hour in the history of cinema. But it was an impossible task to follow the scene in the forrest with anything and making the audience care about it. Too much emotion to deal with at a time. And thus, the scenes with Jude Law follow it, then seem completely inconsequential, trivial, bland, etc, etc.

Also, the world building opens up too quickly – from the claustrophobia of basically one home and a couple of toys, to a whole world of robots, people, circus, fuck knows what – and the script (as in character motivations and dialogue) has trouble catching up. The second partt might be good. But emotionally it pales so much in comparison to the first half that it seems like absolute shit.

I watched AI 5 times so far. First time with the second half, then on every subsequent rematch stopping at the forrest scene. This film is just so much better this way.

The last time I watched AI, was around 3 or 4 months ago, and I watched it in full. My opinion didn't change. This should be can hour long movie. Maybe add more of the father and more interactions with other children. But not necessarily. What for? The first hour is absolutely perfect.

15:56 wait, what? No, you got it all wrong. People don't think the "2000 years later" is aa Spielberg addition, they think the whole Jigaloo segment is. Because that whole segment is idiotic and has nothing to do with the story. Also, the filming style changes. As far as the first hour FEELS like a Kubrick movie, the second hour feels completely like a Spielberg movie – a not very good one at that.

Also, is there really someone dumb enough to think that those creatures at end are aliens and not robots?

I need to watch this film again. I don’t think I was mature enough to appreciate it when I first watched it.

It's absolutely crazy how this movie isn't more highly rated than it is.

That interpretation of ending is based on what? It all seem like your wishful thinking.

People cited specific changes that they believed Spielberg to have made to the script to kiddify it, such as by changing the drink David makes for his mother from Bloody Marys to coffee. Also the timeline the public had, that the film had been mostly completed by Kubrick and finished by Spielberg, heavily led people to believe that any flaws in the film with Spielberg *not getting it*. Interesting how the real timeline paints a very different picture.

I remember having mixed feelings when AI came out. I was floored by the visuals and obviously Osment's groundbreaking performance, but on first watch it seemed emotionally unbalanced and a bit schizo, as if it were cobbled together from disparate parts, which of course it kind of was. In the years since, I've started to come to terms with some things in my past (being an adoptee more or less abandoned by my adopted parents) that put the film in a different light. The inherent selfishness and cruelty of humanity and the fragility and even the legitimacy of what we consider "unconditional love." Even watching this excellent essay, I started to break down a little. I haven't seen it in maybe 5-6 years, but I think I'll steel myself and give it another go soon. Sometimes soaking in the sadness is just what we need to move on. Maybe a perfect thematic double-feature would be AI and Eyes Wide Shut?

When it works, it really works.

It's less a film about "artificial intelligence" and more about what happens behind closed doors, in the family, Freudian stuff. Dark Spielberg.

It is about artifice, ethical ambiguity.

That Blue Fairy tho. Dr. Noooo

Enjoyed that video thank you. I really like AI. I struggled with the last third of the movie originally and felt this is where Spielberg’s sentimentality overrode the big ideas but over time it’s totally grown on me and I massively rate it as a movie. One of Spielberg’s best and underrrated along with Munich.

The Mecha hunter moon balloon scenes were filmed at the peak of Runyon Canyon park in the Hollywood Hills. I came home one night to see a full moon bobbing up and down in the hills above my Hillside Avenue apartment building.

I had this on vhs when I was young, it was one of those films I'd end up watching every night, I love films like this that have so many seperate parts that it feels like a true journey from start to finish

Wonderful review!

I thought it was a pretty amazing film when it came out–especially Jude Law–but there wasn't a single role that didn't work for me in the film.

I like that you point out that the 'bots never try to harm the humans. They simply want to live, love, and chase their dreams.

Your thumbnail and description should display the title as A.I. – You need the period after both the A. and the I.

An incredible philosophical movie. And Spielberg’s most subversive. It tackles the timeworn trope of ‘man vs machines’ and takes the side of the machines. Humans are portrayed as fallible, faithless and downright psychopathic. The ending, which most people thought overly sentimental was perhaps the most subversive part. Humanity is gone, wiped out by its own, well, humanity I guess but it’s legacy is the AI society that humanity created but was unable to compete with on an intellectual or more importantly moral level. David’s love for his ‘mother’ lasted for millennia but hers was never real in the first place. It’s a difficult trick to pull off a happy ending where human life has been extinguished from the universe.

I remember first reading about Kubrick's AI in a "genre" magazine in the early 90's. Little did I know then that I would actually be IN the film as an extra (Flesh Fair scene). I can be seen for just a split second in the stands just before the beanbags start flying (of which I was hit in the head with one). Took 3 viewings to see myself in the film. Spielberg had the crowd sing the song "There's No Business Like Show Business" at one point, but it was cut from the film.

I don’t know what the hell made Steven Spielberg think he could write like Stanley Kubrick. I always wished that Terry Gilliam did this movie, but it wasn’t meant to be. Apparently, Kubrick liked to randomly call up directors of films he liked and congratulate them. Most of them, including Gilliam, thought it was a joke and hung up on him.

For me, what made the ending so jarring was the sudden introduction of an off-screen narrator. Up to that point there had been no narration, so hearing an unexpected voice-over felt like a hard cut into a completely different film. Had they left that out, I think audiences might have been more receptive.

Sidenote: super weird seeing the Twin Towers in some of these shots, knowing what would happen to them mere months later.