Stars Toby Stephens, Caity Lotz, Sam Hazeldine, Pooneh Hajimohammadi and Denis Lawson Directed by Caradog James The greater good. The oft used excuse to ignore morals, compromise principals, break all sorts of laws, carry out executions without due process and do a whole lot of bad and nasty things now in order to safeguard the future. Any government in the world smart enough will carry out any of these actions in small doses, bit by bit to get their people accustomed to it, before civil liberties disappear completely - and we’re okay with it. How many shows or movie have we seen with the technology at work used to catch criminals and such? Do we question how that information was collected n the first place? Well, most of that doesn’t apply with this movie, but the sense that excuse comes into play here does. While the story revolves around the creation and application of a robot infused with artificial intelligence - the titular machine - the actual agenda behind the scenes is to create the perfect soldier, the obedient killing machine devoid of conscience. Set in the near future where a cold war with China has plunged The West (unspecified countries) into the greatest recession ever, the MoD still has funds to carry out research into intelligent machines. When his initial experiments on brain-damaged soldiers go wrong, Vincent (Toby Stephens) seeks new avenues in the realm of artificial intelligence. When he meets Ava (Caity Lotz), he’s impressed by her work and her spirit. Together, they create The Machine, even while Vincent is distracted by his terminally ill daughter - the reason for his research. The first act may seem slow, but it does allow you to really know the characters, which enhances the second act when The Machine (also played by Lotz) is activated. Vincent’s relationship with the machine then informs the third act, which feels like it comes too soon due to the film’s brisk 90 minute run-time. Director Caradog James, who also wrote, takes his time to build the story, characters and their motives. It does feel like an old school noir film at times, given the limited sets and selective lighting to hide the obviously limited budget, but he does help the audience invest in the characters, the stars and their performances. Toby Stephens delivers a solid if dour performance, and while we also have Denis Lawson (sci-fi fans of a certain age will know that name) being appropriately slimy as the immoral project leader, the movie truly belongs to Caity Lotz. She delivers two performances that are poles apart, and yet, still basically carrying the same persona. Her singular dance scene and the action beats that follow do seem reminiscent of Summer Glau in either Firefly TV series or Serenity movie. However, Lotz carries the movie here, and what she delivers on screen would make repeated viewing worthwhile. This is pure and solid science fiction more than drama, even if the drama does carry through the movie. There are some of the usual tropes in play, but the story works its way around them very well. Some may find the first half slow, but it does reward your patiences and attention. Rating: ****
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