Robot World |
UK • 2015 • 82m •
   • Directed by: Neil Rowe. • Starring: Ian Rowe, Tamsyn Pickford, Neil Rowe, Jacob Peter Rowe, Claire Soper, Paul Soper, Lisa Mitchell, Tony Mitchell, Amanda Rowe, Alex Soper, Izzy Soper, Olivia Mitchell. • Music by: Amanda Rowe.    A pilot is sent across the galaxy through a new device. His mission is to orbit and reconnoiter a planet before returning home. The planet is known to be populated by intelligent life. Once at his destination the pilot becomes marooned on the alien planet and soon discovers the planets only inhabitants are predatory machines.
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Review:
First of all, there is only one human character in the entire plot of the movie if we don't count the radio voice and the found film. And, yes, there is a bit of "found footage" that too conveniently moves the story forward by leaps and bounds just about when the viewer is beginning to get restless.
The fact that the pilot seems to know how to operate the projector, but not the handgun during the found footage scene was one of many goofs throughout the film. For example, how is it that the two worlds have identical cultural customs for grooming, clothing, use of tools, interfaces, etc? How come none of the robots came to investigate the crash site? At one point, the pilot was walking over what was obviously a path then appeared shocked at finding evidence of intelligent life. Parachutes, combustionfire, gravity, etc. all work too conveniently as expected and Earth-like for not ever having set foot on this planet before.
The premise of the story is the most interesting part, but so much more could have been done with it - I am sure, based on the resources evident on screen that there were budget limitations. The pace and some of the shots seem to attempt to pay homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, these are vague similarities. The story also seemed to have a Philip K Dick tone - which is more to say that it felt like a short story stretched into a movie with an attempt at a socialmoral message.
Once I was committed to watching the film and started getting into the story, I kept praying that the story would not fall into the "all aliens speak English" category. It came dangerously close, but I credit the movie for twisting the premise around. There is one shot of a newspaper that is shown in a strange language and switches to English when the camera pans across it that is the only tell-tale indication that what the pilot sees and what we see is not in the same language. We learn later that the unfamiliar one was the pilot. This was reminiscent to The Hunt for Red October when Captain Ramius was speaking in Russian and switched to English mid-sentence as a device to allow the viewers to follow the story. Except that in the case of Reconnoiter, the device served as a plot device that some viewers might consider a cheap shot. Unfortunately, once the viewer catches on, the movie turns into a one trick pony and there is not enough plot left to carry it to the end.
The conclusion of the story and the ending of the film were extremely disappointing. Are we to believe that the arrival of the machine and the pilot triggered a religious war that ended up in the extermination of all humanity? Yet, that humanity capable of such high level of automation could not simply send a probe to check out the machine and make contact on their own? Without a better and more satisfying third act, the viewer just feels left hanging.
Review by Nelson Garcia from the Internet Movie Database.
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