Note: I’m still trying to recover from some things but I felt this was at least appropriate for this week.
A movie like Subservience is basically The Hand That Rocks the Cradle meets Westworld with every Lifetime Movie Network thriller sprinkled all over it. The main question I have is why do they make the lifelike androids look like they do.
At one point in the movie, Alice (Megan Fox), appears in her black bra and panties and it left me wondering, why bother? Can’t they just make the android basic and devoid of any real human anatomy. Yes, Jason X sucked “on so many levels” but at least the woman android in that movie didn’t have nipples. A broken clock is correct twice a day, I guess.
And also, why would they give the android human genitalia unless they intended for the people to have sex with them, which does happen? If the purpose of the androids is to replace the human work force doing everything from construction work to babysitting brats, they basically don’t need those body parts unless that is part of the goal of the company who develops them.
This could have been a a great subject for the filmmakers to examine. Imagine a future where you can have an android do all the manual labor job duties and tasks. Then, whenever you felt randy, they could turn into a pleasure android. A lots of other movies have examined this topic. But in the world today, it seems more relevant. Also, since so many people in the service and manufacturing field are losing their jobs, how does that affect everyone else? Even the medical doctors seem to be androids.
AI is being considered a big threat as the use of deep-fakes to make pornography is becoming a bigger issue. How can you prove you didn’t send nude pics of yourself to someone you shouldn’t have? Yet, this is one of those movies that never fully examines the dangers. Instead, we basically get a futuristic version of that Rebecca De Mornay thriller, which is fitting because both this movie and that feature Madeline Zima as type of bookend. (And it apparently beat the announced remake with Maika Monroe. But they’re all the same fucking movie when you look at them closer) Only this time, Zima plays the jilted wife the femme fatale wants to kill instead of the child.
And like that movie, she plays a woman, Maggie, with a serious health issue who needs help. She even has the young daughter who is primary school age and the newborn baby. But sorry guys, Alice doesn’t breastfeed the baby. But you do get to see Fox’s bum or at least that of the body double. They said Margaret Qualley wore a prosthetic booty in The Substance so maybe Fox did too.
Anyway, Maggie’s husband, Nick (Michele Morrone), is the construction foreman of a site in a city that is the near-futuristic site of the cinema world – Vancouver. Nick gets Alice, a “sim” to help with the tasks as Maggie is in the hospital. And eventually Alice begins to warm up to Nick because she must’ve seen the 365 Days series because Morrone’s acting is so bad it makes porn stars look like Julliard graduates. I also found it odd someone like Morrone with all his body tattoos and high-profile house would be a construction foreman.
You know the story – Alice, who is named by the little girl, Isla (Matilda Firth), from Alice in Wonderland, at first is obedient and docile. Then, she turns sexy and dangerous. And finally, you have another chase movie of people running up and down stairs and in and out of hospital rooms. Finally, there’s the obligatory sequel tease that may or may not happen but let’s end it on the possibility of one.
It’s crap! But I guess Fox does a damn good job with the material the best she can. Every actor loves to play the villain because you don’t have to abide by any rules. Yet she doesn’t really add the sheer terror other women might have brought to this role. However, she doesn’t really need to. There’s just something about Fox’s whole look and demeanor that seems, for a lack of a better word – artificial.
Fox has admitted she’s had cosmetic surgery and that makes her look less natural. And let’s not forget those clubbed thumbs as there is a scene in which we get a close-up of them during a crucial scene. If you’re casting someone who may look like they were created in a lab but still looks somewhat human, it’s Fox.
One of the best scenes of the movie is when Maggie and Nick have an argument after Alice let it slip she got some special input from Nick, he defends it saying it’s no different than when a woman uses sexual toys. To which, Maggie responds that Alice has a face.
So, I guess that’s what factors into it, guys, in case you need to know in the future.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 