Oh well, today was a good day of sorts and I’d just finished reading a book that left me feeling happy in a way, but I’m not ready to talk about the book yet, so I thought to watch a film I can talk about. I’m not the biggest film person so many times I’d download movies randomly, only for me to forget I ever downloaded them, and so they’d just sit there in my device from weeks stretching to months. However, I decided I wasn’t going to do that anymore and download no more movies till I watch the ones I have. That’s how I found myself watching the film I’m about to review.
Subservience (2024)
Released on September 13, 2024, Subservience is an American sci-fi/ thriller film directed by S. K. Dale from a screenplay by April Maguire and Will Honley. It stars actors like Megan Fox and Michele Morrone, among others. The movie lasts for about an hour and thirty five minutes.
Summary of the Film
Following the sickness and temporary hospitalisation of his wife who awaits surgery, Nick(Michele Morrone) hires and extremely advanced AI robot(Megan Fox) to take care of his kids and things around the house. His daughter’s love for Alice in Wonderland prompts her to name the AI robot, Alice. But as is expected, things soon go south as Alice malfunctions due to the commands Nick gives her. With his wife recovering and an AI with an obsessive urge to make her primary user happy, Nick must do what he can to save his family.
My Review and Rating
I know. Even writing this gave me the haven’t we seen this trope a thousand times before, feeling. I’ll start from the basics. I’m not a fan of Michele Morrone and I try to avoid his movies where I can because I know his movies will have those scenes that try to bring the whole sex god personality to life. Not really my thing so, let’s just say I didn’t have the best expectations when I saw that he was the leading male.
And so we move on to the plot, and that’s all good if we saw a bit of uniqueness. I love sci-fi films. Even more than that, the whole robotics, AI thing gets to me, cause like it or not, that’s the future. We’ve seen this AI overriding its functions and trying to harm the people that brought it into existence trope a lot of times, so what would have set Subservience part was that element of uniqueness which it unfortunately lacked. Instead, it took the more alluring aspect in the form of Fox and frankly, I feel that there are many more sides to the AI-film trope that has not yet been explored.
I saw a review that said that, “The disappointment ultimately comes from realizing what this movie could’ve been, and how it falls short of reaching its potential,” and I think that’s very true because I saw a lot of sides to this film that could have been explored. The mortality aspect of it all, or could AI truly be more than just wires, but it falls into the overused trope of it overriding its initial settings. Alice herself could have made a fascinating character but unfortunately was relegated to the sexy, obsessive, soulless AI robot.
Contrary to what most people who have watched this film think, I don’t think the acting was bad. I think the acting was just right. It’s just the script that had issues. Megan played her role well and even the wife of Nick(Madeline Zima) was not bad herself in interpreting her roles. Ehh, I can’t say much about Michele Morrone though. No comments. He was just there, I guess.
Also, I think the film makers made up for the other lacking things with the aesthetics. The special effects and the overall technology weren’t shabby at all. They actually tried in making the movie look more than okay visually and that at least ensured that our eyes didn’t glaze over in boredom for a good part of the movie.
All in all, Subservience is not too terrible a film. Apart from the other things mentioned, and the fact that you could practically predict every single scene a mile away, it isn't too bad. It had a lot of potential but unfortunately missed it. However, the pacing is not too bad and you may actually watch it without skipping too many parts. Maybe. A 5.5/10 for me. What do you think about it?
Jhymi🖤
Thumbnail image from IMDb.
Other images are movie screenshots.
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