Post by GRWelsh on Apr 17, 2020 8:00:59 GMT -5
I just re-watched this and it has gone up in my estimation. I've always like this movie, but at first considered it very flawed which I assumed was due to competing visions and tonal sensibilities from Kubrick and Spielberg, and I still think some of that is there but it isn't as glaring as I remembered, except in one particular scene. The scene when David first meets another David and smashes his head in while screaming "You can't have her. She's mine. And I'm the only one. I'm David! I'm special! I'm unique!" is very Kubrickian, and creepy, but TOTALLY out of character for David as established up to this point. It jars you out of complacency, but makes David much less sympathetic and more like a malfunctioning, psychopathic robot that maybe, yeah, should be destroyed. David is not violent before or after this scene. Anything else that made him seem dangerous was due to a misunderstanding (holding onto Martin to protect him after getting stabbed) or trickery from Martin (cutting Monica's hair) or trying to escape (stealing the police amphibicopter). So, I now think David going full psycho on the other David was a dramatic misstep and the biggest flaw in this movie. You could still portray his disillusionment without having him become violent, and that would have kept him much more sympathetic. The point was made well enough with the David and Darlene product boxes, and the David mask facing the company logo statue outside (his first memory). I have to admit when I first saw it with my sister neither of us thought it was great because we both interpreted the final act as having aliens in it, probably because of their similarity in form to those in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and Spielberg's history with aliens. And that seemed to come out of left field. Of course, upon re-watching it, it is obvious they aren't aliens at all, but the A.I. of the future 2000 years later after humanity has died out. They are even foreshadowed by the form of company logo, and when Gigolo Joe says, "They made us too smart, too quick, and too many. We are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes, all that will be left is us. That's why they hate us, and that is why you must stay here, with me." Duh. Something that stood out to me on this most recent re-watch: even after Professor Hobby explains everything to David and how the blue fairy was just a fiction they used to guide him back... David still persists in the belief, the hope against hope for something that seems impossible -- which is a very human or even spiritual thing to do. That was very profound. I'd rank this up with one of my favorite movies of all time, now.
The behind the scenes story of how this movie got made is interesting, as well, and a bit twisted. The short story it is based on: "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" (1969) was written by Brian Aldiss, who was hired by Kubrick to help write the script. Kubrick fired Aldiss, and hired Ian Watson to write it. Aldiss considered that a betrayal and said, "Not only did the bastard fire me, he hired my enemy instead." Watson changed the G. I. Mecha character to be a gigalo (Gigalo Joe), and Kubrick said "I guess we just lost the kiddie market." Kubrick and Spielberg didn't really have competing visions as much as I thought since Kubrick wanted to produce it and have Spielberg direct it.
P. S. A sad little note is that the twin towers of the World Trade Center are portrayed as among the skyscrapers still standing in the flooded 22nd century and the later frozen 42nd century. This may have been one of the last movies to come out showing Manhattan before 9/11/2001.
The behind the scenes story of how this movie got made is interesting, as well, and a bit twisted. The short story it is based on: "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" (1969) was written by Brian Aldiss, who was hired by Kubrick to help write the script. Kubrick fired Aldiss, and hired Ian Watson to write it. Aldiss considered that a betrayal and said, "Not only did the bastard fire me, he hired my enemy instead." Watson changed the G. I. Mecha character to be a gigalo (Gigalo Joe), and Kubrick said "I guess we just lost the kiddie market." Kubrick and Spielberg didn't really have competing visions as much as I thought since Kubrick wanted to produce it and have Spielberg direct it.
P. S. A sad little note is that the twin towers of the World Trade Center are portrayed as among the skyscrapers still standing in the flooded 22nd century and the later frozen 42nd century. This may have been one of the last movies to come out showing Manhattan before 9/11/2001.
