In the near future, a computer hacker (Casey) agrees to help a humanoid simulant (Evan) by removing all of the restrictions on his programme so that the simulant can be more human. However, when the government agency known as AICE become aware of this they do everything in their power to track down the hacker and the simulant, but Casey has much bigger plans in store...
The last decent film that I can remember on thought-control was The Minority Report and everything else on the same or similar subject matter I've since has been either average or bad. Whilst Simulant has some merit it's not really a great film....
First and foremost, the film is not really a particularly thrilling experience. There is some energy with AICE pursuing Casey and Evan, but it's not well-enough executed to have you on the edge of your seat. Even parts of the narrative seem flawed; it seems that the only way AICE can stop the Simulants when something goes wrong is by using EMP (which apparently is only supposed to be used in extreme circumstances). So you're telling me that this is the only measure that they have in place to stop the Simulants? No failsafe code or key phase that can be used to shut them down even when they go rogue or are hacked?? Nothing in place to remotely shut them down when the same happens?? All the simulants have unique ID numbers, but they can seemingly go missing and off-the-grid?? Why would they not have trackers fitted to them or something similar? I seem to remember Ex Machina sharing some of the same narrative flaws.
I know this is my opinion and is entirely subjective, but I'm not even sure I can really see the benefits to those who are left behind by having a simulant in place of their husband/wife/son/daughter... They have their memories wiped and are incapable of expressing their own thoughts/feelings meaning that they are effectively walking zombies...why on earth would anyone choose to bring back a loved one who is so different to the person that they once were? Wouldn't that be more painful than simply letting them go and just hanging on to the memories and time that you shared together? Other films have explored similar themes, but generally with more positive connotations when it comes to humans living with AI. As far as I was concerned, it just seemed a bit of a strange way to set its stall out.
I suspect Simulant is going to be one of those divisive films where some will give it 10's 9's and 8's whereas others will give it 1's 2's and 3's. Ironically, I am sitting somewhere in the middle and whilst I found elements of it interesting it doesn't do enough to set it out from the crowd and offers little that hasn't been seen before.
The writers probably like to think that they have re-invented the wheel and created something profound. I, however, beg to differ.
The last decent film that I can remember on thought-control was The Minority Report and everything else on the same or similar subject matter I've since has been either average or bad. Whilst Simulant has some merit it's not really a great film....
First and foremost, the film is not really a particularly thrilling experience. There is some energy with AICE pursuing Casey and Evan, but it's not well-enough executed to have you on the edge of your seat. Even parts of the narrative seem flawed; it seems that the only way AICE can stop the Simulants when something goes wrong is by using EMP (which apparently is only supposed to be used in extreme circumstances). So you're telling me that this is the only measure that they have in place to stop the Simulants? No failsafe code or key phase that can be used to shut them down even when they go rogue or are hacked?? Nothing in place to remotely shut them down when the same happens?? All the simulants have unique ID numbers, but they can seemingly go missing and off-the-grid?? Why would they not have trackers fitted to them or something similar? I seem to remember Ex Machina sharing some of the same narrative flaws.
I know this is my opinion and is entirely subjective, but I'm not even sure I can really see the benefits to those who are left behind by having a simulant in place of their husband/wife/son/daughter... They have their memories wiped and are incapable of expressing their own thoughts/feelings meaning that they are effectively walking zombies...why on earth would anyone choose to bring back a loved one who is so different to the person that they once were? Wouldn't that be more painful than simply letting them go and just hanging on to the memories and time that you shared together? Other films have explored similar themes, but generally with more positive connotations when it comes to humans living with AI. As far as I was concerned, it just seemed a bit of a strange way to set its stall out.
I suspect Simulant is going to be one of those divisive films where some will give it 10's 9's and 8's whereas others will give it 1's 2's and 3's. Ironically, I am sitting somewhere in the middle and whilst I found elements of it interesting it doesn't do enough to set it out from the crowd and offers little that hasn't been seen before.
The writers probably like to think that they have re-invented the wheel and created something profound. I, however, beg to differ.