‘Prototype’ Review
Stars: Danielle Scott, Andrew Rolfe, Stephanie Lodge, Tom Taplin, Jamie Robertson, Zoe Purdy, Luke Robinson | Written by Sam Gurney | Directed by Jack Peter Mundy
Proportion Productions are back once again with ANOTHER slice of British genre filmmaking with Prototype – not to be confused with the recently released The Prototype – this time focussing on science-fiction (with a horrific edge) in a story set in the very near future, when life-like androids with artificial intelligence have been created to help people with menial household tasks.
The prototype, One, created by Roger Marshall and tested by his family, proves to be popular but flawed. Roger has been working on a new model, Two, whose improved features show promise of its super-human abilities. As tensions rise between Roger and wife Shelley, the androids malfunction and the lives of the whole family are soon in danger of Two’s sinister plans…
Jack Peter Mundy, who directed Dinosaur Hotel, The Legend of Jack and Jill and Easter Bunny Massacre for producer Scott Jeffrey, is back behind the camera for a film that takes a similar tack to that of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot – insomuch that it focuses on the relationship between humans and robots, in particular humanities understanding of control of said robots and robots own understanding of what it means to be humans. And like other interpretations of Asimov’s work, Prototype shows us a very grim future for humanity, mainly because of our own, very human, failings.
Prototype is not the first film to present such a bleak future. The same ideas of robots serving humans, the rise of AI and ultimately a robot uprising has been a mainstay of cinema and television since before even Asimov penned his wary tomes. From the big-budget Hollywood film I, Robot to the more recent Apple TV+ show Foundation, from Alex Garland’s well-regarded Ex Machina to the more recent low-budget fare of Aaron Mintes’ The Alpha Test, we’ve seen a myriad of similar stories. Which means it takes a lot to stand out from the crowd.
What Prototype does to try and stand out is focus on not only the terrifying nature of AI and robot assistants but also the humans at the heart of the story and in this case show that it’s not just the out of control robots that are a danger, humans can be just a deadly too. In fact, the events of Prototype might need not have happened if Roger Marshall, the head of the family at the centre of the story, wasn’t such a power-mad, abusive person. That personality: abusive, arrogant, almost merciless, translates into the AI of Two – who then replicates that and becomes a vicious, murderous monster of a robot. Eventually threatening even her creator, as happens in most movies about human-made robots!
Ultimately Prototype offers nothing new to the “robots out of control” sub-genre but it’s still a great slice of British horror, backed up by some great performances, notably Danielle Scott as Roger’s put-upon wife; and Tom Taplin as Michael, Roger’s son who has a mean streak just like his father and takes it out on One and Two – though it’s clear, thanks to Taplin’s performance, that Michael is more conflicted over his father’s behaviour and it’s that frustration that leads him to have such an attitude.
*** 3/5
Well directed by Jack Peter Mundy, who seems to be one of the rising stars of the Scott Jeffrey stable, Prototype will be released by Left Films on Digital on April 5th 2022.