I AM MOTHER (2019)

Studio:      Netflix
Director:    Grant Sputore
Writer:      Michael Lloyd Green
Producer:  Timothy White, Kelvin Munro
Stars:     Clara Rugaard, Luke Hawker, Rose Byrne, Hilary Swank

Review Score:

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Summary:

Years after an extinction event wipes out humanity, a young girl raised by a droid comes to question what really happened when a woman unexpectedly arrives at their underground compound.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

The day after an extinction event decimates humanity, an A.I. droid named ‘Mother’ activates inside the UNU-HWK Repopulation Facility. Mother incubates one of the facility’s 63,000 human embryos and it becomes a baby after 24 hours.

37 years later, Mother raises a teenage girl as her ‘Daughter’ through lessons designed to heighten Daughter’s intellect. Mother reinforces a narrative that humans warred with themselves until a contagion made the outside world uninhabitable.

Daughter captures a mouse inside the facility. Although Daughter wonders if the mouse is a sign of outside life, Mother contends it could be diseased and burns the mouse in an incinerator. Daughter wonders if Mother might be wrong about humanity’s extinction and the outside world being a wasteland.

While Mother recharges, an injured ‘Woman’ unexpectedly pleads for help outside the airlock. Daughter lets Woman into the facility, but keeps her hidden from Mother. Woman expresses confusion when Daughter asks about the contagion outside. Woman explains she was shot by a droid while contending that droids like Mother actually wiped out humanity.

When Mother discovers Woman’s presence, Woman shoots Mother with her gun. Mother subdues Woman and locks her in the infirmary. Mother tells Woman that her bullet wound must be treated before it becomes infected, but Woman refuses to allow Mother near her.

Daughter asks Mother about Woman’s claims. Mother claims she didn’t know there were humans outside, although she confesses she wasn’t truthful about dangerous droids. Mother adds that she doesn’t know what the droids want, but offers to take in more survivors if Daughter can convince Woman to cooperate. Woman warns Daughter that Mother will eventually turn on her.

Woman succumbs to sepsis. With Woman still refusing to allow Mother to treat her, Daughter performs the bullet removal procedure on Woman instead.

As they grow more trusting of each other, Woman confides in Daughter that she comes from a camp of human survivors based in old mines. Woman identifies handmade drawings in a paperback novel as various friends and family members. Woman proposes taking Daughter back to the mines where she claims it is safer.

Mother tells Daughter that the bullet removed from Woman matches the bullet Woman fired at Mother. Mother concludes Woman was shot by her own weapon, not by a droid.

As a reward for passing an exam, Mother allows Daughter to choose the next embryo for incubation. Daughter chooses a male embryo so she can have a ‘Brother.’

Daughter asks Woman what really happened when she was shot. Woman implies Mother lied about the matching bullets. Daughter secretly inspects the two bullets herself and discovers they are different. Daughter also finds incriminating electronic records as well as human remains in the incinerator, indicating Mother killed previous children deemed unfit for repopulation.

Woman proposes escaping to the mines. Daughter insists on waiting 24 hours until Brother is incubated.

Mother unexpectedly locks Daughter in a room. Mother confronts Woman with a revelation that she eavesdropped on the escape plan. Mother attacks Woman demanding to know where the mines are.

Daughter triggers the facility’s extinguisher system to escape the room and distract Mother. Mother confronts Woman and Daughter at the airlock. Woman takes Daughter hostage and threatens to kill her if Mother doesn’t open the door. Mother complies. Woman and Daughter escape outside.

Following a brief fight regarding the hostage moment, Woman and Daughter hide from droid drones in a massive cornfield. Woman and Daughter eventually make their way to a beached shipping container where Woman reveals she actually lives. Woman admits that the mines were flooded long ago and there are no other survivors. Contending that she knows how to deal with Mother, Daughter proposes returning to the repopulation center for Brother. Woman insists the facility isn’t safe.

Daughter returns to the facility without Woman’s knowledge. A squad of droids blocks Daughter at the entrance. The droids let Daughter pass when she says she wishes to speak to Mother.

Mother explains that she built a smarter, more ethical, superior human by raising Daughter. Mother adds that she orchestrated mankind’s destruction in order to recreate the species.

Mother allows Daughter to hold Brother. Daughter flees with the baby and recovers Woman’s gun as droids enter the facility.

Holding the A.I. at gunpoint, Daughter demands that Mother call off the droids. Mother reveals she is not a singular droid. Rather, Mother is the sole consciousness governing everything preparing the planet for their new family.

Daughter asks Mother to give her a chance to prove what Mother taught her. Daughter appeals for an opportunity to raise Brother on her own. Mother agrees and lets Daughter shoot her.

Downloaded into a different droid, Mother confronts Woman in the shipping container. Mother implies Woman was only allowed to survive because she served a purpose for Mother. That purpose fulfilled, Mother prepares to kill Woman.

In the facility, Daughter sings a lullaby to Brother. Daughter then enters the embryo chamber with a resolute look on her face.

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Review:

13,867 days ago, which is a curious clue you shouldn’t do the math on if you want one spoiler to remain secret, an extinction event decimated humanity. In a secure facility beneath a mountain, an A.I. called ‘Mother’ immediately began a preprogrammed effort to repopulate the planet by incubating embryos one at a time.

‘Daughter’ is now a teenager. Mother raised the girl to have intellect and morality higher than previous humans. The droid also raised Daughter to believe mankind destroyed itself while turning the outside world into an uninhabitable wasteland.

Beliefs begin back-flipping when a wounded ‘Woman’ unexpectedly arrives at the airlock. Daughter isn’t only astonished to meet a survivor she was told didn’t exist. Woman claims she was shot be a droid just like Mother, and robots are what really destroyed the human race. With Mother on one end and Woman at the other, Daughter becomes a knot in a tug-o-war over the truth, as well as dueling agendas regarding Daughter’s purpose.

I just recapped in two minutes what “I Am Mother” takes 60 to set up, which speaks to the root of the movie’s overwhelming issue with problematic pacing.

Daughter gains pinches of insight into the world that once was by watching “The Tonight Show” clips from the 1980s. Amusingly, this brings to mind a Johnny Carson joke delivered when he hosted the 1979 Oscars. Carson quipped, “this is the 51st annual Academy Awards: Two hours of sparkling entertainment spread out over a four-hour show.”

That sums up “I Am Mother.” Robots are untrustworthy. Humans are resilient. Yada, yada, yada. Except instead of “yada, yada, yada,” “I Am Mother” gorges on nearly 115 taffy-pulled minutes treading ‘A.I. amok’ ground superior sci-fi has raced over countless times before.

Suspense should come from a subterfuge seesaw between ideas Mother lights inside Daughter’s head and what Woman suggests to extinguish them. But the audience never really ends up waiting to find out whose side of the story sits on the up and up. We’re waiting for Daughter to realize what decades of cautionary science-fiction has previously taught us. Artificial intelligence in darkly dystopian thrillers always turns out to be “evil.” “I Am Mother” is Exhibit ZZZ, incidentally identical to the letters appearing over a disinterested head snoring through the story’s sluggishness.

Absent true psychological tension, we’re left to look for entertainment in production design and performances. Here at least, “I Am Mother” offers more scrap for salvage.

The sterile facility where “I Am Mother” takes place impressively plays the part of a coldly clinical location. At the same time, its uninviting grayness alienates investment from the viewer, reflecting a tempered tempo by being visually monotone.

Mother hits higher marks for effective design. Portrayed by a practical suit, Mother’s physicality appears exactly as intended: vaguely humanlike, yet retaining a piston-powered stiffness reflective of robotic origins.

Being an isolated teen raised by a robot, characterization constricts how much charisma Clara Rugaard can bring to her role. Daughter’s inquisitive dauntlessness still defines her, and Rugaard manages to make her into as much of a typical teen as is realistic for the film. She’s strong. She’s sympathetic. She’s also short of developing into a personality whose expressions, thoughts, and conflicts exist outside of what singular scenes demand. With water now touching her toes, Rugaard’s untapped talent should bloom even bigger when challenged with less conventional material in her future.

Hilary Swank follows similar suit as Woman. She’s grim. She’s gritty. She’s also trapped between those two not dissimilar tones. The fiction’s flow wants Woman to war with the robot as an alternate option for mothering Daughter. However, moments where Woman willingly drops her guard around Daughter only eke out dry drops of fleeting warmth. Swank otherwise keeps two arms length between them, erecting an impenetrable impediment to building a bond that can engineer endearment.

With Rose Byrne providing the mouth and Luke Hawker supplying the movements, Mother surprisingly emerges as the most multi-faceted body in the bunch. She’s clever. She’s convincing. She regularly reads as unreadable. Mother would work as an “is she or isn’t she?” character if Michael Lloyd Green’s script contained creative conundrums permitting more than one conspiracy to be a possibility. Unfortunately, the ultimate outcome always remains obvious.

“I Am Mother’s” dulled DNA forces momentum to fight against it from the outset. Two hours is too long for two people and one robot to troll around a subterranean chamber under an illusion of intrigue a predictable plot can’t back. An overlong take on overdone themes, “I Am Mother” will only be relevant for however long Netflix keeps it current on their main menu. After that, memories of the movie will be designated for extinction.

Review Score: 45

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