A plane, carrying two unstable, intelligent, killing robots, crashes on a Pacific island. A military team is sent in to retrieve the robots before they learn too much and become unstoppable. To complicate matters, a gang of criminals, escaping their latest caper in a helicopter, lands on the same island.
Some movies have important themes that help you to understand your existence. Some have intricate characters with which you can empathize. Some have complicated plots that will stretch your mind. A.I. Assault has cool CGI robots.
This is grade-A, family, schlock cinema. Now, keep in mind that anything called “schlock” can only be so good, and when it’s family friendly, that knocks it down further. But for an hour and a half, if you can be contented with a pair of giant robots clanking around and cutting up people with their tentacles, and nothing more, you’ll be happy.
The job of everything that isn’t a robot is to not lower the level of the production. So, the acting is good enough not to be noticed and the characters are generically acceptable. The cinematography is adequate. Only the simplistic dialog calls attention to itself, and that is only at times. Mostly, everyone speaks in clichés. The scientist even says, when referring to a plan, “It’s crazy enough to work,” but I took that as a deliberate joke.
A.I. Assault may be the new king of cameos. Or perhaps I should phrase that, “the new master of misleading advertising.” It is being sold based on genre actors who are barely on screen. The online poster and TV commercials name Robert Picardo, Alexandra Paul, and Michael Dorn. None of them are major characters. Seven well-known actors (in the sci-fi community) have bit parts. Most never share a frame with the leads, and rarely with anyone else. They obviously showed up when they had a few hours, recited their lines on a quickly made backdrop, and then took off. They are:
George Takei (Star Trek: original series) – cameo.
Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – periphery.
Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) – cameo.
Alexandra Paul (Baywatch) – cameo.
Hudson Leick (Xena) – secondary.
Bill Mumy (Lost in Space) – periphery.
Tim Thomerson (Trancers) – periphery.
If you are watching for one of these actors, only fans of Xena‘s Callisto will be mildly satisfied.
So, you’ve got CGI robots. That’s it. Look for more and you’ll be disappointed. But who doesn’t like a big spidery robot?