Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
Directed by Joseph Sargent
The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
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What critics compared Colossus: The Forbin Project to
Oh, you know what happens next — at least if you grew up on old-school sci-fi like "2001" and "Colossus: The Forbin Project."
A similar plot about artificial intelligence taking over the world was first presented over 40 years ago in 1970 in Colossus: The Forbin Project, a film that ended with two supercomputers communicating with one another and then controlling everything at fade out.
From this moment on, the film recklessly melds scenarios from sci-fi milestones like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and every computer-run-wild movie from “Colossus: The Forbin Project” to “Demon Seed.”
And, like in “Colossus: The Forbin Project,” does the computer have a sinister agenda as it links with the world’s technology?
And there are additional twists that link the movie to everything from “Frankenstein” to “Colossus: The Forbin Project” to “The Terminal Man,” “The Matrix” and even last year’s artificial-intelligence love story “Her.”
While Transcendence has tons of money to spend on unpersuasive digital effects and dronelike music, it shows little interest in exploring the potentially tricky benefits of a computer-enhanced intellect; it’s not even in the enjoyable realm of starkly ridiculous Cold War thrillers like Colossus: The Forbin Project.
(Compared to Ava from “Ex Machina,” Skynet looks as outdated and old-school as anything in 1970’s “Colossus: The Forbin Project.”)
Filmmakers and screenwriters Lilly and Lana Wachowski (formerly Andy and Larry) draw from comic books, Hong Kong action films, cyber-punk fiction, video games, and every American science fiction conspiracy and tech noir thriller from Colossus: The Forbin Project to Tron to The Terminator.
Filmmakers and screenwriters Lilly and Lana Wachowski (formerly Andy and Larry) draw from comic books, Hong Kong action films, cyber-punk fiction, video games, and every American science fiction conspiracy and tech noir thriller from Colossus: The Forbin Project to Tron to The Terminator.
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Merge the hyper-stylized combat sequences from "The Matrix" with headier elements from sci-fi's "Colossus: The Forbin Project," add a crimson splash of David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" and you'd roughly get "Upgrade."
BRUCE: But surely you’ve seen movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Colossus: The Forbin Project,” “WarGames”…