Director Gareth Edwards earned plenty of clout for making Rogue One, so I thought that an independently made sci-fi film made by him would be worth paying attention to. Unfortunately while this film has some great aesthetics and I do like how most of it takes place in Asia, the story is a horrid mess. It’s not really a science-fiction film at all as the AI here are effectively indistinguishable from humans so prejudice against them is just racism. That might sound profound but it doesn’t make sense at all as the film refuses to offer any explanation of how the AI here works. It’s an underwhelming, unsatisfying film and I’d attribute that to Edwards being responsible for the story himself.

After a nuclear warhead is detonated over Los Angeles, the Western world blames it on AI and declares a global war to eradicate it. They build a giant orbital station called NOMAD to strike at AI bases all over the world. Many of the countries in New Asia are opposed however and continue to harbor and protect AI. Joshua Taylor is a US soldier sent to infiltrate AI supporters in New Asia in order to uncover Nirmata, the creator of the latest AI advancements. He falls in love with Maya, thought to be Nirmata’s daughter, and she becomes pregnant with his child. However US forces launch an early strike on the seaside village they are staying at and kill Maya. Five years later, the military asks for his help again, claiming that Maya survived and that the AI supporters have built a weapon that could destroy NOMAD. He joins a squad to attack an underground base in New Asia, killing both the villagers and local police forces in the way. Arriving at the heart of the base, he discovers that the weapon takes the form of a robot child who seemingly has the potential to grow and has the power to control all technology.

Despite its trappings, this is very much not a science-fiction film. There’s no explanation of what AI actually is, how their simulant bodies work or why it is that New Asia is so accepting of them as equals. The way that the child Alphie is able to remotely control technology feels like the Force and makes it clear that it’s not meant to be technically rigorous. This lack of rigor is pervasive. Why the heck does NOMAD need to physically appear on top of a village to hit it with missiles? Why are the US soldiers all decked out with fancy lights when trying to covertly infiltrate enemy territory? If an AI is housed within a robotic body, how can it be killed just by physically destroying that body? Why do the Asian countries not have any kind of air defense network to keep the Americans out? It’s not just fluff. All of these details are plot relevant. The setting as a whole makes no sense at all and the story is just plain bad. Joshua is dumb as a brick for not realizing who Nirmata is and the surprise revelation is no surprise at all.

There are only a couple of reasons to like this. Some of its sci-fi aesthetics look cool and I particularly like how it takes shots of existing Asian cities and give them a cyberpunk look. It’s also interesting how the AI-friendly New Asia has a Buddhist vibe while the Americans are blatantly portrayed as the bigoted imperialists. Again however, all this is just superficial. The blue lights to denote being targeted by weapons is as silly as stringing a PC with RGB lighting. The film invokes Buddhism but still wants to talk about God and heaven. It would be far cleverer to somehow imply that the simulants have souls and that humans can be reincarnated into AI after death. It would have been bolder if the Western forces represented a broader cross-section of Western countries instead of merely being American and possibly British. The action is competent but feels way too rushed at the end. It’s ridiculous that Alphie strolls through NOMAD practically unopposed.

I read that Edwards made this by focusing on the visuals that he wanted and then filling out the story later. That sounds about right. Rogue One was so great because it had a solid story written by someone else. This film is just a horrid mess that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.