2050, 2019.
Directed by Princeton Holt.
Starring Dean Cain, David Vaughn, Irina Abraham, Devin Fuller, Stormi Maya and Stefanie Bloom.
SYNOPSIS:
2050 tells the story of a married video game developer who is introduced to a warehouse that customizes androids for human companionship.
If you have dumb questions about robots and a tenuous grasp of basic moral philosophy, have I got a film for you.
2050 is ostensibly a film about sex robots, hand-crafted by Dean Cain. But really, it’s just a movie about terrible people rationalizing terrible behaviors in the most verbose, unnatural ways possible. Who could possibly want to spend time with any of these people? You spend a great deal of this movie hoping that anyone learns anything, and a couple of them come close, but instead just revert to convincing themselves that they were never really wrong to begin with.
We’re given a main character in Michael Greene (David Vaughn) who elicits no empathy whatsoever. Dissatisfied with his marriage and having learned that his brother-in-law’s new companion is a sex robot, Michael reluctantly yet actively seeks out a robotic companion of his own. All of this with a supporting cast ranging from characters so unbelievable that your mind rejects them, to characters so unlikable that you wonder why you’re watching these people do anything at all. The exception being Dean Cain, who, by comparison, comes off as so charming that you almost don’t realize that his big monologue doesn’t actually make any sense.
Is this a sci-fi meditation on what it means to be human and what real human interaction means? It certainly would like you to believe it is. 2050 imagines a future where the only technological advancement is androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans. That’s it. No other robots and we all still have the same smartphones and drive the same cars. Drone traffic has increased exponentially, but drone technology has remained stagnant for thirty years. As the film winds down, it seems to explicitly state that this whole thing has been a screed against our increasing dependence on technology, with a narrated montage so hackneyed that you can find the point more eloquently made by aging graffiti artists on any publicly-sanctioned mural.
The robots in the film are indistinguishable from the human beings, but that’s because these humans step down to meet them halfway. We’re subjected to a handful of overly long scenes where Michael’s brother-in-law, Drew (Devin Fuller), tediously attempts to explain to his sex robot, Quin (Stormi Maya), what it is to be human. I’m not sure he knows.
The message on human interaction is incredibly difficult to take seriously, as it’s hard to believe that any of the filmmakers involved have actually ever spoken with another human being, let alone having ever been in a meaningful relationship. Sure, you learn that there is more to Michael’s marital problems than the fact that his wife won’t role play with him, but he still finds it necessary to whimper about it during his justification of cheating with a sex robot. This is our point-of-view character.
Now, I’m sure there are a billion Michaels out there who exhibit damaging behavioral patterns, equivocate, rationalize, and never grow or learn anything. I’m just not sure how that’s a good story or why you need a slapdash sci-fi setting to tell it.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★
Allen Christian – @FourColorFilm
Originally published December 4, 2021. Updated December 5, 2021.
