MovieChat Forums > A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Discussion > In 2001, when I was 21, I hated this mov...

In 2001, when I was 21, I hated this movie, however...


I just re-watched it again after 14 years and absolutely loved it. It was genius on so many levels; following that of a Kubrick film. I urge all to rewatch as an adult. I have changed intellectually, philosophically, politically, and grown as a person. I'm sure most of you have as well. It's a different movie for me now.

reply

Thanks for posting, it's always interesting to hear thoughts on the different perception achieved when watching the same movie years later. Movies can be such great vehicles to reflect on our past self as we get older and consider also who we are now. The same is true of books...

reply

Same thing happened to me. Hated it when it came out and watching it again now it is totally blowing me away. I find it so interesting how my taste in movies has changed over the years.

reply

The worst movie EVER at the age of 35 and 51 . It's so fragmented. It's rip off of many classic movies, it's horrible on every level.

reply

[deleted]

I went the opposite way. I loved it in the theater at age 25 and went it three times, but I went to the theater for it again yesterday (as part of a year-long Kubrick series) and it didn't fill me with the same charm I had back then. In 2001 I recognized the film's flaws but overlooked many of them. Yesterday they were more annoying.

reply

I always really liked the first half of it but the second half completely ruins it for me. Every time I give it another go it just completely fails with its over the top melodrama and fancy aliens. I would've preffered it without the one million year time jump and a more down to earth second act.

reply

FYI, those aren't aliens. They are hyper-advanced mechas that were built by other mechas. They say of David and Teddy that they are "originals" and knew actual humans, whereas the advanced mechas have never known humans because they were built by other robots.

reply

yes and it only was 2000 years

reply

Once AI becomes self-aware, the growth is exponential.

reply

it probably shuts down itself actually.
either way. selfawareness needs a body, so it cant grow exponentially

reply

After rewatching it today these are pretty much my feelings on it too. I loved the concept more than the execution, but it was a damn sight better than I remember it being the first time around.

reply

I first viewed the movie shortly after it came out. At that point in my life, I did not have a child, not did I want one. I just re-watched it many years later, now a mother to an 11 year old boy who is the love and joy of my life. The film took on a deeper meaning and touched me in ways it hadn't originally.

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." Norman Maclean

reply

Not to say you can't appreciate the film as a non-parent, but I think it does hold something more resonant if you are a parent.

I enjoyed the film on its theatrical release and again just recently.

It's examination of the moral responsibility of creating a new lifeform. The mirroring of the intertwining wish fulfillment and self-delusion from both orga and mecha perspectives. The exercise of living a fairytale by supplanting emotional and psychological needs through the guise of religion and commerce.

It is a meta fairytale about fairytale where a machine follows a fairytale in hopes of finding fulfillment only to be told a fairytale which he accepts. The plasticity of the real and the artificial.

reply

Good summary of the themes.

reply

Could you please use the word “fairytale” one more time?

reply

Ummm - so you didn't consider yourself an adult at 21?
Anyway, I saw it at 31 and 46 - can't help but think only myself as a little kid could've possibly liked this cutesy fairy tale.

reply

In age only.

reply

It needs to be seen ironically, the OP here has it right.

I always liked it, but I like it for different reasons now.

It proves that chocolate and pizza probably shouldn't go together.

reply