Fantastic Look and the Score is Effective, Minimalist and Silky. This is a Creepy, sometimes Frightening Film filled with War-Battered, Brain-Damaged Robots and few Humans.

The Low-Budget takes a Back Seat to the Imaginative Scenery and the Mood is all Melancholy. There is barely a Light in Sight and the Literal Darkness of the Scenes does Enhance the Gloomy Appeal of the Story.

Caity Lotz in a Dual Role is Stunning and Toby Stevens as the Scientist in Despair is OK. The Story may be Nothing New and the Ending will Not Surprise Sci-Fi Geeks. But Viewers will most likely remember the Feel of the Film and it is Unique in that respect.

Overall, Above Average B-Movie with its Sci-Fi Roots Showing most of the Time, although Not in the Foreground. It's an A.I. Trek that is a Welcome Inclusion in the Sub-Genre. Low-Budget Movies should all Look this Good and They Can with Fertile Imaginations.

There aren't really too many successful films about artificial intelligence out there, so additions to the genre are always welcome for this reviewer. Sadly, THE MACHINE doesn't really do much in terms of film-making that hasn't been done previously, although it is a film that raises more than a few moral and philosophical questions over the course of its running time.

This low budget feature stars the reliable Toby Stephens as a researcher looking into AI and its uses in a modern-day cold war with China. Various complexities and dilemmas arise, but none of them seem to have a huge dramatic effect on the viewer; most of the action takes place in a murky and empty laboratory and the cinematography is below par. Attempts to shoehorn some fight scenes into the narrative don't work very well, and the climax is as predictable as they come. For the most part, THE MACHINE relies on the talents of Stephens and Stephens alone to make an emotional impact, but only he can do so much.

The underlying premise is one that has been done a thousand times in speculative science fiction, especially that dealing with artificial intelligence. In this made-for-television film, the cold war has created the "need" to try to create super soldiers, androids if you will, but the bodies of the dead and the maimed are being used as the foundations. Meanwhile, the head of the project has a daughter who has a severe neurological disorder. He is consumed with the need to try to get her back to her former self. As he works for the British government, had has his own agenda. Of course, the more fundamental issue is what happens when we lose control of our own creations. What happens when they begin to aspire to humanity but also carry with them the failings that we humans have. As is often the case, people die, and their deaths are seen as the fodder for advancing a science that perverts morality, even in times of great pain and sorrow. Unfortunately, this film is so bleak and, at times, obtuse and hard to follow, it quickly sapped me of interest. While the questions posed are interesting, I don't think we really learn much.