Bicentennial Manfirst 3/4 are peak but man what a shitty ending
Bicentennial man is a movie about a robot who develops conciousness and free will, not the most groundbreaking concept but I love the way it's executed
the first half of the movie is really beautiful, the robot lives just as another member of the family, and time passes, he learns how to fit into society more and more, he even lands a job and makes a lot of money, building a future for himself, he sees everyone grow up, get married, form families, and die, everything changing but him
However it's not a sad movie, in fact, I would say it's very happy, I watched it with a big smile in my face and it's really a movie to transmit tranquility, the first half is just a very relaxing, beautiful look at life from the perspective of someone who is basically outside society and outside time
After the halfway point of the movie (I don't really consider this spoilers but do as you wish), the focus changes and the robot wants to be as human as possible, and to do things any other human would do, without people actually judging him or treating him different for being a robot
this on itself isn't bad, however, there is a big problem, this is a hollywood production from 1999, tho the year doesn't matter much as this is something they have yet to fix. Hollywood doesn't understand what being human means, at least on film
most american productions can only picture one way of life, and that is either you're middle or high class, live a normal life without much trouble, get married have kids and die. There isn't anything else to life, in fact, if you ever watch any american sitcom, every single character ends up married and having children and that's the end of the sitcom.
This doesn't apply to our robot since our robot is basically a god on earth, they're immortal, they're smarter than anyone else in the planet, they have perfect memory, etc etc. The first half is so good because the movie feels like it understand this, with that power the robot doesn't choose a high octane life, doesn't try to be a hero of war or a big political figure, he doesn't try to be the best scientist or win awards. With the power to shape humanity in any shape they want, the robot puts himself before humanity, and decides that the best course of life is to just enjoy life, enjoy the day to day, live a comfy life without much difficulty
there is a lot of philosophical questions of if doing this is right or wrong, if you have that much power, should you use it for good?, at what extent?, there are many answers to this, but honestly, I don't mind the ideology of this movie, live a comfy life first, if they can do good later, even if it's only for self-worth or whatever, that's good.
The later section of the movie, mainly the very last arc fails for me because this setting just doesn't work for this character, you can't pull your typical hollywood plot after that start and setup, and not because he's a robot, but more on how hollywood does things
They basically try adding a romance plot, because every successful life needs a lasting romance. Thing is, having the romance just work is boring according to them, so they try to add drama, but hollywood doesn't understand romance, so the robot turns into an asshole
the only way for hollywood to do drama in a romance is for it to exist a toxic relationship, a romantic "triangle" where it's just two people who are already going out and you try to steal that person away, and it's just... why
they picture this as the right and moral thing to do, as a celebration for the fact that they can feel love and therefore are a complete romance, and I feel it just throws away everything good this movie had built up
I don't like the very end of the guy refusing his immortality either, it's just, you can be human without living that one archetype of life, if you have advantages or differences to other people, use them, live with them, don't neglect them and try to mask itsadly placed on C rank, just watch perfect days, it's way better
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got all the stars in paper mario I just need to fight bowser and definitively not the surprise twist villain that is for sure not happening
next: Rango