Why do I get the sense that I have already seen something eerily similar to the upcoming sci-fi film Automata? Perhaps it’s because it seems to be trading heavily, if not exclusively, on the work of Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick? Whether that’s a good, bad, or simply derivative thing will be in the eye of the beholder. The new trailer certainly looks interesting though, if not wholly original.
Automata features Antonio Banderas as an insurance agent in a robotics corporation who sets out to investigate the manipulation of a robot. In the midst there are arguments about robots behaving like humans, or humans behaving like robots, issues of free will and what consciousness means, and all that good stuff that has become pretty standard in sci-fi. The trailer gives us a strong run down of the plot, which bears more than a slight resemblance to things like Asimov’s I, Robot and Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It even references Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics.”
Banderas has been quoted describing Automata as a “very European” approach to science fiction, and says that the film deals with the time when a robot mind will overcome the human mind. He also name-dropped Asimov, saying that he loves the writer’s books and that “that’s the kind of movie we tried to do.”
We’ll have to wait and see if Automata only looks like an Asimov story or if it has a lot more in common with the writer’s work than maybe Banderas would be comfortable admitting. There’s certainly nothing wrong with reworking some science fiction themes in a new form, but this one looks just a little bit derivative.
Automata will come to theaters and On Demand on October 10. You can check out the first trailer and posters below and see what you think.
