Unhappy Endings – A.I. Artificial Intelligence

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Credit: www.impawards.org

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, and William Hurt
Written and Directed by Steven Spielberg

THE MOVIE

A.I. Artificial Intelligence– Initially an idea conceived by the late, great Stanley Kubrick, A.I. Artificial Intelligence tells the futuristic Pinocchio-like story of David (Haley Joel Osment). Born out of a society that has lost millions to the polar ice caps melting, a brilliant scientist creates an artificial boy that knows only how to love its owner. David will never do get older, never get hurt, never hurt you, and never die. Initially programmed to love only his adopted Mother and Father (Frances O’Connor and Sam Robards), David is given up and set adrift after complications with the couple’s real child (Jake Thomas) arise.

Rather than being sent for a company mandated destruction, David is let loose upon his odyssey to discover more about his past, and to be transformed into a real boy in order to make his mother love him again. Along the way he meets several interesting characters including Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) and Professor Hobby (William Hurt), and experiences a myriad of delight and sorrows. The sights and sounds of the film are amazing, with cityscapes and waterfalls that can stand with any film ever made, and Haley Joel Osment gives perhaps the performance of his career.

THE UNHAPPY ENDING

For most of its running time, Artificial Intelligence: AI tells an amazing story. When I had initially heard of the project, I had more than a few trepidations about Spielberg trying to finish this project after the death of his hero, Stanley Kubrick. The styles of the two directors were not exactly congruent to say the least, as the warm accessibility of Spielberg had never been seen in a picture directed by his mentor Kubrick.

Yet in watching the film, Spielberg’s direction came alive by aping Kubrick at every turn. The heavy dose of schmaltz I was expecting was really nowhere to be seen as we saw David’s journey turn darker and darker as many prejudiced against the android showed the ugliness of humanity. Osment is absolutely amazing in this role, making us believe in exactly how real he is not and shouldering the film’s dramatic weight with an amazing inner strength. Then the film ends, and then starts back up again.

A coda flashes forward to the end of humanity, with robots (looking very much like Spielberg’s aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) finding David and bringing him to life. He is the last piece of humanity on Earth, and is given one wish from the benevolent beings. He chooses to be with his mother again, but learns he can only be with her for one day before she dies. He accepts and the end of the film fades to black with the small boy sleeping forever next to the only woman he has ever loved.

It was as if the flood gates of Spielberg sugary sweetness opened up and swallowed us whole in the last ten minutes of this movie. While David’s journey was marked with a distinct lack of sappiness throughout 9/10 of this adventure, the director simply couldn’t let his audience, or perhaps even himself, go home unhappy. Unfortunately, the ending had the very opposite effect. The fear and exhaustion that felt so real while David was on the run is completely betrayed in the film’s last few moments in the name of sentimentality. When the world you’ve presented us with feels so real, why give us a corny fantasy and tell us everything is going to be ok.

HOW TO FIX THE ENDING

For me, the film already has a better ending. When David is at the bottom of the sea, stuck there for all eternity and Ben Kingsley’s narration rings out, it’s as if this is where Kubrick would’ve ended the film. No magic fairies or amazing God-like robots would have reared their heads, only an end that would have fit perfectly with the rest of the film’s dark tone. Instead, a tacked on conclusion that’s intended to make us feel the same as we did at the end of E.T., simply makes us feel robbed and coddled.

Spielberg may be the king of schmaltz; I just wish he could have put it away here. In no way does the film’s ending feel as if it fits within A.I.’s framework. All involved seem so on top of their game, until a wave of sentimentality sends them crashing into mediocrity.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.