Simulant

Canadian movie production quality is equal to Canadian TV production quality which is a bit worse than US Lifetime movie quality. Most parts were interesting, the twists and turns were good. Actors and actresses all did a decent job, there were some good looking scenes. I would agree that the pacing felt off, it was 1.5 hours and felt like they were stretching things with filler that wasn't engaging. Not nearly as good as the Detroit: Become Human game's story which has AI breaking away from their programming due to mis-treatment by humans, and being able to share that with other AI by touch. So overall just okay.

In the near future, mankind has been coexisting alongside AI, in the form of humanoid robots The Simulants, only their fate is changing, an uprising looks likely when The Simulants start breaking their four precepts. I watched Blade Runner very recently, and as I watched this, I couldn't get it out of my mind, but sadly this film isn't a patch on it. Everything here has been done before, only much better. Pacing was pretty slow, after an intriguing opening, it lulls badly in the middle, you're made to wait ages for more action sequences. I didn't care for the visuals of The Simulants, they looked pretty cheap and nasty, like something from a low budget 1970's TV series. The tech looks great, it's possibly the film's biggest strength, some great tunes, especially at the end, fortunately it's not a long film. Some of the acting was ok, some was pretty average, Sam Worthington really did stand out, although he was a little wasted. 5/10.

I really enjoyed this as it keeps you guessing right until the end. You are never quite sure how it it going to play out or how the characters will react to certain tense situations. It's well acted by all and feels like a possible future. It has a lot of soul considering it is a story about androids and AI. The violence necessary to the story is blessedly kept to a minimum and there is very little gore, for a change. If you want an ultra noisy wham, slam, bang sort of film, then this one will disappoint you as it has rather a slow but very interesting plot development that is also a welcome change.