Subservience Blu-ray Review
“Subservience” is all too familiar.
Written by Will Honley and April Maguire, “Subservience” revolves around a family that is going through a tough time. Nick (a father, husband, and construction worker) is having to care for his two children (Max and Isla) while his wife (Maggie) is in the hospital and in need of a life saving surgery. Nick finds a lifeline when Isla picks out an android (also known as SIMs) to help with childcare, cooking, household duties, etc. Isla ends up naming the advanced lifelike SIM Alice. Alice is initially programmed to serve Nick in any way, but after being reset she somehow overrides her programming parameters and begins to act on her own. Alice (who becomes sexual with Nick) starts to create issues in Nick and Maggie’s relationship, but things become increasingly worse when Alice’s actions wind up endangering the whole family.
Elsewhere in the film is a key subplot about SIMs replacing humans in the workforce. Monty (a former co-worker of Nick’s) becomes angry and bitter about the SIMs and plots his own revenge against them.
Director S.K. Dale’s sci-fi drama about the dangers of AI may be topical as AI continues its baffling rise in popularity, but “Subservience” sadly brings little new to the table. If you’ve seen “Ex Machina,” “M3GAN,” “The Terminator,” “Picard,” or “I, Robot,” you’ve pretty much seen “Subservience.” It’s a shame because there was potential here in this story of a family unit relying on an android to make their life easier. The sexual aspect between Nick and Alice in particular was ripe for psychological storytelling potential. Ultimately, however, the plot simply borrows too much from other stories and doesn’t have enough of its own identity. Even the potential sequel set-up in the final moments just feels like a collection of creative decisions from other films and shows.
“Subservience” does have one thing going for it and that is Megan Fox. The actress turns in one of her best performances as Alice. She fully commits to the part and creates a memorable and unnerving cinematic android. Michele Morrone and the always underrated Madeline Zima also turn in solid performances here as Nick and Maggie respectively.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.35:1 1080p. How does it look? The stylish cinematography by Daniel Lindholm shines in hi-def.
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Expect a crisp 5.1 track.
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