Obedience: A Chilling AI Thriller That Loses Its Way

In SK Dale’s Obedience, a stressed father, Nick (Michele Morrone), brings home a lifelike AI named Alice (Megan Fox) to manage his household while his wife is hospitalized. What starts as a promising exploration of human-robot dynamics quickly deteriorates into a mindless slasher as Alice’s programming goes rogue.

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The film, scripted by Will Honley and April Maguire, begins with an intriguing premise but devolves into a formulaic and uninspired thriller. Megan Fox’s robotic performance suits the role, but the narrative fails to deliver on its initial promise, with clichéd violence overshadowing any potential commentary on AI and human relationships.

SK Dales Obedience After a decent 45 minutes or so of mentality, an ordinary humanoid robot degenerates into a rampaging killer. This final direction is disappointing not only because the premise is somewhat restrained, focusing on the dynamics between the human and robot characters and the disappointing nature of AI increasingly taking over the workforce, especially construction workers, but also because this is by the same filmmaker who extracted a surprisingly thrilling performance from the notoriously awkward and lifeless Megan Fox. Until deathThe film put her in home invasion survival mode, capitalizing on her model physique to create suspense by leaving her handcuffed to a dead man, and using every ounce of energy she had to move around meant the physical struggle of walking with a dead burden on her back.

The film (from screenwriters Will Honley and April Maguire) is an example of the lowest hanging fruit, starring Megan Fox as an actual robot with advanced AI programming and essentially delivering her trademark robotic acting, but this time it fits the character perfectly. Even taking that into account, it still feels uninspired and mundane.

Named Alice, she is purchased by Nick (Michele Morrone), who is saddened and stressed out after his supportive wife Maggie (Madeline Zima, in yet another competent, convincing performance) is suddenly hospitalized after a heart attack. Nick juggles the overwhelming responsibilities of parenting (with a young child and a toddler) while trying to get to his construction site on time every day. During a shopping trip with his kids, he stumbles upon a state-of-the-art robot and, of course, decides to buy the most traditionally attractive one available. Naturally, this is not his only lapse in judgment.

While Michel Morrone’s performance is crude (looking at the credits, it’s clear his only acting experience comes from smutty Netflix films, and most of his dialogue is forced and insincere), the script is clever enough to present the character not as 100% morally wrong, but as a flawed human being who is overcome by Alice, both emotionally and sexually.

It would be unfair to say Nick doesn’t understand his actions at the time, but there is real inner conflict in Nick knowing that his wife’s heart may not be able to keep up and that this sentient robot, which he resists and doubts, may be a source of pleasure for him. Alice also reveals that Nick is happier when his blood pressure and stress levels are lower after sexual pleasure, which adds another layer of ambiguity to his complicated state of mind.

Unfortunately, Obedience The film plods along from act to act, each repetitive for a particular reason — it needlessly takes 40 minutes before the question of whether Maggie is going to die is answered — and while that’s frustrating, it’s also the most fascinating part of the film, because it’s character-driven, showing Nick slowly succumbing to his innermost desires.

On the other hand, he also claims that Alice is a more competent mother thanks to her vast database of information. As is typical in such films, she helps with the housework, cleaning and taking care of the children, playing the role of maid, which Nick enjoys all too much. Still, the misgivings remain. But he claims that she can never take Alice’s place (even after they have sex), because Alice lacks a human heart and will never be able to understand the complexities of human emotion.

Several tensions come to the surface, including Alice’s gradual takeover of the household, but also Nick’s angry co-workers who seek retribution for the construction company firing most of them and destroying their private lives. Alice also begins to employ her free will in dangerous ways that have consequences beyond tearing this family apart. Again, it mostly erupts in clichéd, generic violence, and visually it doesn’t do justice to James Cameron’s blue palette. Terminator 2.

Obedience Shackled by formulaic formulas, the film degenerates into a mindless, forgettably constructed slasher scene that mars any worthwhile topical commentary and doesn’t do many of the already terrible acting any favours.

Evaluating the flicker myth – Movie: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★