Warning review: God is a robot, human life is cheap, and grim sci-fi tales

Impressively resolute in its desolation but hopelessly scattered in its focus, the sci-fi film Warning It consists of half a dozen stories that are so at war with each other that they are never merged into one movie. Each of the vignettes in Agata Alexander’s film could become an intriguing feature film. In fact, one of them is basically a shortened version of Brandon Cronenberg Holder. But Warning presents these ideas too quickly and superficially. As soon as they get interesting, the movie passes them by, with little connective tissue in between. The result is admirable for how bleak it is in its multifaceted form, but as a whole, Warning it’s too disjointed and underdeveloped to really make an impact with its dystopian warnings.

Alexander has a great understanding of what we expect science fiction to look like, and she and cinematographer Jakub Kijowski collaborate on a series of haunting images. It is unfortunate that they are also so familiar. An astronaut floating in a completely dark space, a brutalist mansion nestled in the forest, a pair of almost naked bodies linked by tubes and pipes, a cyborg that moves with precise robotics. These are archetypal moments that have bounced around this genre for a long time, and Warning presents them effectively. Some of them are even unexpectedly emotional, like a pair of robot butlers dancing a stiff waltz with each other to pass the time. Or haunting, like a man in a virtual reality headset, covered in what looks like black oil, writhing in pain from the intensity of a memory.

But while Warning brings together the cornerstones of the genre, Alexander does not draw on them very creatively. That’s particularly clear in the script, from Alexander and co-writers Jason Kaye and Rob Michaelson, who flirt with a common genre idea per subplot, but then jump into something new rather than dig deep. Yes, humans consume more than they need, rely too often on nostalgia, and act selfishly and tribalistically, but reciting those facts is not a true story.

One of the best concepts Warning Too briefly imagine is that AI could be the same way, and that humanity’s worst qualities (pettiness, classism, hypocrisy) could be passed on to the cyborg descendants we design. Still Warning he practically runs away from anything that takes more effort than provoking a simple “Hm, interesting” reaction. And the way each subplot ends, with a “Doesn’t being alive suck?” message, indicates an unwillingness to push something here beyond.

Set in a “not too distant” future, Warning takes place both in a version of Earth with a few more invasive tech devices and news reports on COVID-19 outbreaks, and in space far from Earth, but with a line of sight. Artificial intelligence is everywhere and has mostly replaced person-to-person contact. While fixing a satellite, maintenance technician David (Thomas Jane) communicates with an artificial intelligence system that quickly pinpoints its comparative values. (His company has determined its value at $ 500,000, while AI’s is $ 40 million.)

Meanwhile, a massive space storm that produces eerie red clouds and crackling lightning behind David as he works is also causing a series of thunderstorms on Earth. While David complains about his job, his life, and everything else to the AI, Warning moves to the Big Blue Marble.

In what seems to be uniquely America, people and robots are trying to build a fulfilling existence in a gloomy time. Engaged couple Nina (Annabelle Wallis) and Liam (Alex Pettyfer) visit their wealthy and critical parents for dinner. Robot shelter keeper Brian (Tomasz Kot) tries to find places for his wards, including eager to please Charlie (Rupert Everett), who is afraid of being discharged.

Also: Ben (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Anna (Kylie Bunbury) are in a seemingly idyllic relationship, but some kind of black silhouette follows Anna, challenging her idea of ​​reality. Claire (Alice Eve, doing a pre-lit version of Kristen Bell’s Eleanor from The good place) obsessively relies on his God device (voiced by James D’Arcy) to regulate his life and measures his self-worth in the accumulation of his sins and good works.

And besides: teenage Magda (Garance Marillier), by taking a job through a service called Second Skin, gets her head into a business relationship that shows that sometimes men only want women for their bodies. (The film includes an unnecessary attempted rape scene, shot from the point of view of the attacked woman.)

Some subplots are better than others. The Ben / Anna story is hard work for another tired man, and the Claire / God-device satire has no teeth. On the contrary, the Brian / Charlie story would make for a heartbreaking animated film, and if the Nina / Liam duo were to expand, it could look like a very good thing. I’m your man. But there is only one main narrative thread that unites these characters, and it is repetitive: almost everyone wonders about the existence of God. The existence of a religious question in Warning It’s not a problem, but the superficiality (and supposed Christianity) of his approach doesn’t leave viewers with much to counter all the despair.

On the one hand, Warning It seems to be saying that technology has superseded all of our values ​​and belief systems, so that we have forgotten a central component of what humanity is all about. (Claire not knowing how to pray “manually” is the funniest moment of that segment). On the other hand, a question of this weight deserves more energy than the Warning provides.

An angry monologue followed by a brooding monologue followed by another angry monologue gets old quickly, even if there’s some fun in Jane’s snotty line about David’s plea to God: “What’s the lesson here? What, am I selfish? I already knew that! “Unfortunately, Warning it’s packed with sci-fi takeaways that fans of the genre already know about, and the movie’s title says it all.

Warning is it availabe on DVD and Blu-ray and can be rented on digital services such as Amazon and Voodoo.