While my first impression of this movie was something of a cross between Moon and Ex Machina, as you get into it, the comparisons to both are mostly superficial. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend in science fiction exploring the intersection of technology and grief. Unlike a lot of many other sci-fi offerings, Archive doesn’t explore artificial intelligence as some kind of existential threat. Rather, it uses A.I. as a fulcrum to examine how we process grief, how that may change, and raises some moral and ethical questions about how far we should allow technology to go.
In the not too distant future, George Almore (Theo James) is a roboticist assigned to a remote outpost in Japan. While his primary job is rehabbing the dilapidated facility, he’s secretly working on a revolutionary A.I. interface in an attempt to reconnect with his dead wife.
High-concept, low-budget Sci-Fi is my jam and this was a very heady and ambitious debut feature for writer/director Gavin Rothery and the story has a surprising amount of emotional weight to it. You can’t deny it’s well-told even if it has some hiccups along the way. Rothery also did a great job of conveying genuine emotion with the machine characters. The relationship between man and machine is complex, especially in stories like this, but the screenplay did a great job capturing the moral burden of building a digital consciousness. Ultimately, the relationship between George and the machines he built is more impactful than the one with his wife.
James is good as the moody loner but he never comes across as particularly caring. So, while he is able to cultivate an important sense of desperation, it’s a little tough to believe him as the loving husband. Stacy Martin did well with a full plate, playing his wife Jules, the advanced humanoid robot, and the voice of the prototypes. It hurts their chemistry that most of their human relationship is told through flashbacks, and the vast majority of those flashbacks all take place at one particular point in time.
I wasn’t wrong in thinking visual aesthetic reminded me of Moon and that’s because Rothery was the conceptual designer for that film, but it also had an 80s Blade Runner vibe too. The budgetary restraints were obvious but the production design made the most of it and Laurie Rose’s broad landscape and cluttered interior cinematography did a beautiful job of painting the solitary nature of the setting.
Categorizing this as a film that wanted to be Ex Machina doesn’t do it justice. They cover some similar ground but Archive carves out its own path in the world of A.I. stories. The “twist” at the end wasn’t exactly necessary. It was an effective curveball, but it may give you some headaches while looking back in hindsight.
Recommendation: This movie raises some legitimate questions about what could happen when we die and how much we should interfere with the natural process. If you like cerebral science fiction, this is definitely worth a watch. I rented it through Apple TV but it’s available right now on Amazon Prime Video.