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Archive - 2020 Movie

My Maker (Archive) is a 2020 film directed by Gavin Rothery. With a modest budget, the film managed to gross $ 227,171 worldwide. Shot at the intersection of drama and science fiction, the film was able to get 6.3 out of 10 points according to the IMDBb website. The premiere took place on July 10, 2020, the movie was produced in the USA and the UK. The film lasts 1 hour 49 m. In the article, we tried to describe the film in detail and objectively, so there are spoilers and film criticism.

Contents

  1. Cast and Movie Roles
  2. Trailer and Movie Synopsis
  3. Retelling the Movie Plot with Spoilers
  4. Movie ending and meaning explained
  5. Film Reviews, Ratings and Criticism
  6. All the Sins and Mistakes of the Movie
  7. Music and Movie Soundtrack (OST)

Archive (2020): Cast and Movie Roles

Theo James as George Almore At the time of filming, the actor was 34 years old. However, he has already managed to star in more than 30 films, including such popular films as "Divergent", "Insurgent" and "Underworld". The full name of the actor is Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis, he was born on December 16, 1984 in Oxford (England). His acting debut took place in 2010 when he appeared in the TV series Passionate Woman. He graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in philosophy and studied acting at the Bristol Theater School.

In addition to his native British accent, Theo can speak American, New York, Scottish, Australian and Southern Irish accents.

In the film, he played the role of the main character - George Elmore, who is working on creating a robot with artificial intelligence. George lives alone in a laboratory deep in the forests of Japan. From flashbacks, it becomes clear that on the eve of the conclusion of the contract, George and his wife Jules got into a car accident, and Jules died.

Stacy Martin as Jules Almore The French actress has played over 20 film roles, mostly in drama and short films. Stacey was born on March 20, 1990 in Paris. After graduating from school, Stacey leaves to live in London with her parents. There she enters the university and decides to go to study at the school of acting. Stacey made her acting debut in 2013 when she starred in Lars von Trier’s erotic film Nymphomaniac.

Since childhood, together with her parents, Stacy often moved from city to city. While still in Paris, she began her modeling career at Premier Model Management.

In the film, she got the role of Jules Elmore - the wife of the protagonist. Together with her husband, she gets into a terrible accident in which she dies. After death, her consciousness is archived, which allows her husband to communicate with her for 3 years. During this time, George attempts to create a humanoid robot and place Jules’ consciousness into it.

Toby Jones as Vincent Sinclair. The experienced 54-year-old British actor played a small part in the film as an Archive worker who comes to check the archive’s terms of use. However, at the end of the film, he is destined for a key role that turns the meaning of the picture upside down.

The film also starred:

Archive (2020): Trailer and Movie Synopsis

A young and progressive cybernetic scientist works for a large organization and is engaged in the creation of a robot with artificial intelligence. His latest development is a humanoid robot prototype. But the scientist does not act in the interests of the company, but pursues his own personal goal.

The protagonist is scientist George Almore, who works far from civilization in complete solitude. Somewhere in Japan, he restores an abandoned science center. His wife died in a car accident, but modern technology has made it possible to record the neural activity of his wife’s brain on special equipment. Now with the help of the "Archive" he can communicate with his beloved.

The Archive’s service time is limited and George risks losing touch with his wife forever at any moment. The scientist decides to create a perfect robot and implant the saved consciousness of his beloved into it. The work is almost finished, but will the protagonist manage to complete his project?

Archive (2020): Retelling the Movie Plot with Spoilers

Near future. George Almore is an AI specialist. He lives and works in a scientific center hidden from prying eyes.

The scientist is an employee of a large company and develops android robots endowed with artificial intelligence. After two years of work, George presented only the first version of the J1 android. However, secretly from the company, he prepared two more advanced prototypes.

From the memoirs of George, we learn that shortly before signing a contract with the company, he and his wife Jules had a serious accident in which she died. The modern technologies of the company "Archive" made it possible to record the neural activity of the brain of a dying wife and place it in a special storage. Access to the consciousness of the deceased in the "Archive" is limited, after the expiration of time, the consciousness disappears forever.

With the help of "Archive" technologies, a scientist can communicate with his wife. In addition, he manages to inject Jules’ consciousness into the developed android models. J1 stops developing at the level of a six-year-old child. The second experiment is more successful and J2 already has the consciousness of a teenager, in addition, the robot begins to show feelings for its creator. However, George does not stop, and creates a perfect android model that looks like a real person.

J2 becomes jealous of the more advanced version of the protagonist and tries to stop George from finishing the job. Unable to bear the pain of unrequited love, the android commits suicide.

At this time, the company’s management becomes aware that the scientist has developed more advanced robots compared to the model he presented. They also learn that George has hacked into the Archive vault to gain access to Jules’ mind recording.

The situation is heating up and there is a threat of an invasion of the science center. George is in a hurry to make a complete transfer of his wife’s consciousness into the latest model of the created robot. However, J3 formed his own personality and an android against his own destruction in order to implant Jules’ consciousness. But since J3, like J2, has feelings for the scientist, he relents and allows George to do his plan.

Suddenly, a call comes in from the "Archive". Jules in the body of the robot asks not to pick up the phone, but George does not listen to her. On the phone, he hears the voice of his deceased wife, who says goodbye to him and says that time is running out and his consciousness will soon turn off forever.

George hears the child’s voice and realizes that it is his daughter. He realizes that it was not his wife who died in that accident, but himself. He is only a record of the "Archive", and his imagination created a world around him in which he tried to create a perfect copy of his wife.

Archive (2020): Movie ending and meaning explained

The ending of the story may confuse many viewers of a fantasy drama. The perception of the plot changes dramatically: the world that seemed real turns into a figment of the imagination of George’s dying consciousness.

We begin to understand that Jules was alive all this time, and it was the scientist who died in the accident, and the activity of his brain was recorded in the "Archive". It was Jules who contacted George to talk to her dead husband, and not vice versa. There was no threat of intrusion into the scientific center, the company’s management did not follow the scientist, and all the events that took place were just errors in the Archive software.

The film ends with the cybernetic scientist who wanted so badly to save his wife’s mind - dying. And the collapsing scientific center is George’s dying consciousness, which tried to report a mistake in the perception of the world.

Archive staff

At the beginning of the film, the Archives staff visits the science center to check the vault containing Jules’ body. In fact, they are part of the software that maintains the consciousness of a deceased scientist in a dead body. That’s why when George called the Archives to get information about the uninvited guests, he couldn’t find out anything.

Employees of the "Archive" mentioned the time of storage of Jules’s consciousness, they also talked about the scientist’s three-year contract with the company. If we correlate the information received by the viewer, then George’s consciousness has been imprisoned in the "Archive" for more than two and a half years.

All the actions of the scientist did not bring results, he could not introduce the consciousness of the deceased wife into his robots, since it all happened in his imagination. The finale of the story makes it clear to the viewer that the most intelligent androids of George - J2 and J3 tried to tell the creator the whole truth about the world around him.

J2 committed suicide not because of unrequited love and jealousy, but because of the realization of his unreality and the unreality of everything that happens. The mind of a teenager finds the only way to free himself - suicide. And J3 persuades George not to answer the call from the "Archive", realizing that Jules’ call is a harbinger of the end.

An attentive viewer may have doubts about the obviousness of the plot, when in one of the memories Jules told her husband that she did not want her consciousness to be stored in the "Archive". However, it can be decided that the grieving husband could not fulfill the desire of his beloved and, wanting to prolong the life of his wife, did not cross her name off the program list.

How the director and screenwriter of the film explains the plot and ending

In an interview, the director of the film "My Creator" Gavin Rothery told what exactly inspired him to create a fantastic drama, and also revealed plot secrets and gave his vision of the denouement of the story.

Rothery is an artist by training, which allowed him to work not only on the script, but also on the visual effects of his debut film. His father was fond of reading science fiction and as a child the boy was fascinated by the colorful covers of his father’s books, which is why he became an artist.

Rothery was inspired to write the script for the film by what he described as a disaster in his life. The fact is that during the period of work on the film "Moon" in 2009, all household appliances, on which many professional developments were stored, simultaneously failed. Data was lost, and personal tragedy was exacerbated by a recent contract with a major advertising agency.

Grieving and talking about what had happened, Rothery wondered if a computer could commit suicide. What will an android robot endowed with artificial intelligence do in a hopeless situation for it, or simply does not want to live in this world. And so the idea of ​​creating the script for the film "My Creator" was born - a story about love and future technologies.

An unusual decision by the director during the filming of the film was the refusal to use excessive amounts of computer graphics when creating robots. Rothery decided that androids should be as similar as possible to living people, so every robot that appears in the film is a live actor in a special suit. The rejection of graphics made the film more difficult to work on, but there is no substitute for working with real people.

The director wanted actresses to play the robots because they were going to play girls. But the J1 suit was not as flexible and mobile as expected. As a result, only Chris was able to walk in it. He had a special movement technique, because he created this suit.

During filming, Rothery was very worried that actresses in bulky robot costumes could get seriously injured, as was the case on the set of Star Wars. Despite the existing threat to the health of the actresses, everything worked out.

Nobody fell on the set. Nobody gave us $200 million for everything. So I had to shoot the film in the old school technique - the 70s and 80s.

In the first version of the script, the film ended quite simply and did not have sharp plot twists. Happy Ending: George Almore successfully transfers his wife’s mind into Model J3. The key twist in the story was to be the revelation of the vault’s true purpose. However, Rothery decided to reveal the line of salvation for the consciousness of a deceased person. And only at the moment of completion of the picture did the director decide to kill George himself.

If you look closely, you can see the director’s clue to the denouement of the plot. Each of the dead heroes of the film, before dying, looked at the portrait of a geisha hanging on the wall in the science center. The first time the picture appeared in the frame before the suicide of J2, then before the realization of the death of George.

A geisha is the last thing George sees before life flashes before his eyes seconds before death. You will only see this before the archive is permanently disabled. Follow the geisha!

Archive (2020): Film Reviews, Ratings and Criticism

The film scored the following ratings according to popular sites:

Further in the text, we will give fragments of 10 positive and 10 negative reviews about this film. We would like to note that all assessments belong to their authors, they are not always fair and objective.

Positive reviews about the film

1. This is truly a breath of fresh air in the sci-fi genre. A film that can not only discourage you with the finale, but also direct you to deep reflections on the meaning of our existence and the need to appreciate every moment that you spend next to your loved one.

2. Agree that we have already seen a lot of films about the creation of AI and the search for immortality. In this regard, even Keanu Reeves excelled not so long ago. So such stories appear on the screens quite often. But with all the abundance of high-quality fiction, I note that this film managed to please with its amazing emotionality and a truly fascinating story that will not let you get bored until the very end of this story.

3. Leaves a very pleasant impression and makes you think. Recommend.

4. If you think that after the finale of one of my favorite science fiction films "Luna 2112" it will be hard to surprise you with something - feel free to watch "My Creator". The young director and screenwriter who made this film boldly takes many of the most interesting moments from the sci-fi films of the past and pushes the genre a little further than raising the bar for future sci-fi filmmakers to the next level.

5. I have never seen films about artificial intelligence before, where you could see just a variety of feelings that are not inherent in machines, so "My Creator" was viewed in one breath. Gavin Rothery managed to catch on precisely with this - a non-standard approach to a seemingly hackneyed and long-hackneyed topic.

6. If this movie was a little faster and/or reduced the running time by 10-15 minutes, it would be perfect. I will definitely watch it again, but only after the feeling of overwhelm leaves my stomach. These are well-deserved marks for this film and my new director.

7. Great acting, great cinematography. Definitely worth a look. enjoy.

8. This film was beautifully shot and acted. The premise is suggestive and really makes you wonder what you want after death. Theo James never disappoints and this is another phenomenal performance. It takes an amazing actor to make a movie, and he does it effortlessly.

9. It is impossible not to pay attention to the visual component, here it is especially beautiful. Panoramic views of the forests are intertwined with an innovative project, conceived this is clearly not easy. For nature and progress are always in collision. And in general, the color palette of the film is pleasing to the eye.

10. Great movie with great actors, special thanks to Theo James, great setting, cool old school set and interesting plot. And the ending is stunning.

Negative reviews and criticism of the film

1. Actor of the main role - budgetary Gordon Freeman, wooden dummy. Emotions expresses about as much as an office clerk expresses at his computer - that is, he imitates employment and pretends to be smart. At one point she sheds a glycerine tear.

2. The concept is not original. Didn’t like the music. The storyline is flat, sad and incomprehensible.

3. Tried to impress, but 45 minutes was enough. Nothing happened, boring dialogues, nonsense and bad directing. Looks like a B movie. The plot was a total failure. The current rating is fake. The maximum value should be around 4 out of 10.

4. There is no turning point here. The ending is just as predictable as the rest of the movie is boring. I don’t really mind predictability, just not when it’s disguised as some kind of wow moment that never comes because I have a brain in my head.

5. Do yourself a favor and never rent this movie. I paid for it thinking it would be a decent sci-fi watch, but I’ve never seen a worse movie. It’s utterly and utterly slow. The guy builds a refrigerator as his first prototype, then a generic box robot, and then all of a sudden a full-fledged human, with skin, eyelashes, teeth, etc. Complete and utter trash.

6. I liked the main plot of the film, but it was very slow. However, the plot twist was what I hated the most because it wasn’t original at all, it was stolen from a Japanese animated movie called Hal.

7. This movie is just a copycat of Ex Machina. Boring script, cheap graphics, people dressed as robots, etc. I suggest you watch something else.

8. I’m interested to see positive reviews for such a stupid sci-fi movie. Firstly, the story is very confusing, secondly, the presentation is so boring, and most importantly, the robots are strange, which annoyed me while watching the movie. I couldn’t figure out what it was about this stupid movie that other viewers gave high ratings. Either the ratings are fake or greatly inflated.

9. An incredibly poor film. Based on old cliches and things other movies have shown hundreds of times. It’s like a chip parody or a compilation of other movies. If you’ve seen "Ex Machina", "I am Mother", "Moon 2112" or any other decent movie, this one will only disappoint you.

10. Propaganda films like this prepare us for the near future where AI and machines will eventually take over all of our jobs. They’re trying to make us love AI, make us think they have a soul, and pretty soon they’ll be able to vote and have civil rights. I mean, this movie was headed in that direction.

Archive (2020): All the Sins and Mistakes of the Movie

Many viewers, critics and bloggers found a number of film bloopers, logical inconsistencies and plot holes in the film. We have collected them for you. We want to warn that these points are subjective and reflect only the opinions of their authors.

1. The action takes place in the area near the waterfall, where there is high humidity, frequent fogs and rains. All this should have a negative impact on robots and equipment. For such a laboratory, you can find a better place.

2. The complex is large and sending one person to restore this building is unreasonable.

3. The difference between the J1 and J3 robots is huge, in 2 years the technology could not have stepped so far, it would take several decades.

4. It is impossible to restore the operation of the complex and make 3 high-tech robots alone in 2.5 years. This requires a minimum of 5 years of work by a group of scientists and engineers.

5. When the employees of the archive arrive, a huge car follows with them, the purpose and purpose of which is not disclosed in any way. Why it was necessary to carry it with you when 4 people coped with the task is not clear.

6. Even if the reality for the protagonist is nothing more than an illusion of the Archive, is he confused by the technological difference between the robots they created and the order of the leadership to restore the base alone and make robot prototypes.

7. They forgot to add a self-preservation program to the J2 robot, which every modern robot should have.

8. When your laboratory is stormed and your robot wants to shoot you, then trying to complete the work you have started is at least stupid.

9. In the film, the minds and bodies of the J-series robots are linked, although they may have evolved independently of each other.

10. Making multiple copies of your girlfriend and hoping they won’t be jealous of each other is naive.

11. The motives of the actions of other characters in the film also raise many questions.

12. The protagonist hated his wife if he created clumsy robots J1 and J2 in order to upload his wife’s mind into them. If he loved his wife, he would immediately start designing the J3.

Archive (2020): Music and Movie Soundtrack (OST)

The soundtrack for this film was created by British composer and musician Steven Price. He specializes in music for films and cartoons. He is the winner of the Oscar in 2014. Among his past works are such famous films as:

You can listen to the music from the film My Maker (Archive) at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkXm5smCgms&list=OLAK5uy_ll8JYFRCuXf7yPNgNWzspbDYkFNWTl-00

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