MY CALL: I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! Director S. K. Dale and Megan Fox have stepped up their game since Till Death (2021). Another satisfying cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong. MORE MOVIES LIKE Subservience: For more AI behaving badly, try Child’s Play (2019), M3GAN (2022), Ex-Machina (2015), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Demon Seed (1977). The Machine (2013), Transcendence(2014) and Chappie (2015) all explore self-awareness, our judgment of it and its evolution in different ways. I recommend all three.
After an unexpected medical emergency, Nick’s wife Maggie (Madeline Zima; Heroes) is removed from their children and daily home life for an extended hospital stay awaiting a much needed medical procedure. Now shopping for a domestic SIM to help around the house, Nick (Michele Morrone) receives a sales pitch about their abilities in cooking, cleaning and childcare, with add-ons for accounting, Thai massage, and more.
Nick purchases a model that his daughter likes most: Alice (Megan Fox; Till Death, Jennifer’s Body). Alice quickly becomes accustomed to their lives, schedules and needs. As if Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) just moved in, the house is almost instantly spic and span, the kids like her, and a nice dinner finds them at the dinner table. Oh, and this fem bot wears attractive undergarments. Of course! But fret not. This movie doesn’t wander into very gratuitous waters.
In no time, Alice is listening to Nick vent about work. She’s understanding, supportive, and gets him another cocktail without being asked. Subservient indeed. Alice offers Nick some “extramural” comforts in his harder times which, at first, he resists… to a degree. But she also makes some misjudgments as to what is “best” for the emotional health of the family. Nick resists that more strongly.
Fearful of her prognosis, Maggie pleas to Alice to take care of her family, and gives instructions that may trump Alice’s primary user programing. Did you want a Chucky or Megan mishap? Because that’s exactly how we get a Child’s Play (2019) or M3GAN (2022) mishap!
The reintroduction of Maggie to her own household yields unexpected tensions as Alice understands her children a little too well. And when Nick’s job becomes jeopardized, Alice will go to any lengths necessary to protect her family. No surprises to be found here; this movie goes exactly where you expect it to go, in many of the ways we expect, but also in ways that we kind of want… in a satisfying way. There were even some tropey (but enjoyable iconic) echoes of The Terminator (1984) in there. Another entertaining cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong.
I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! The director (S. K. Dale) has stepped up his game since Till Death (2021). And while Megan Fox was not given a great deal of character range to brandish, she also handled her role very well. I would love to see this director-actress team-up continue with subsequent films.