Archaix said:
Am I the only person on the planet who finds the AI ending horribly depressing?
Nope. The movie's brilliance comes in how the Kubrick and Spielberg cold and warm styles, respectively, clash and mix to create something incredibly new and interesting. Sure, the ending
appears to be happy, but anyone with a brain that thinks about it will realize that it's all a hollow illusion covering a depressing end. Speilberg lures the audience into losing sight of what's authentic and real just as the AI lures David. The film asks the question whether such undying hope is the greatest strength or weakness of humanity, or more likely, both, and in the process puts the audience through much of what David experiences himself. The very fact that many people thought the ending was cheery and happy shows just how much that hope prevails over self-evident truth. Personally, I think AI is an utterly brilliant film with a couple minor issues (like some of the voice work, Robin Williams and Chris Rock's voices are too distinct and jarring). I think the biggest problem people have with it is that they insist on classifying it as
either a Spielberg or a Kubrickian film, and the truth is that it's both at once. The best part is that Kubrick knew that Spielberg's warm touches would enhance the coldness of the story, and that's why he originally wanted to pass the project to him.
Anywho...
As for The Terminal, I enjoyed it a lot, but when you get down to it critically it's a mixed bag. Too many things are unexplained for the film to maintain any internal consistency in the world. Sure, it might not be realistic, but it too often crosses the line of mild whimsy to ask the audience to take giant leaps of faith. How was Viktor an extremely talented carpenter? Why was he interested in Amelia? He didn't appear to show any interest at all in staying in America. For that matter, why did he want to go back home? There was no evidence of him having a career or family there, so why return, outside of legal mumbo jumbo which the film wasn't too concerned with anyhow? How did Viktor and Amelia get so close considering they only met 3 or 4 times?
However, I must say that the first 30 minutes or so were stellar. The way Spielberg painted Viktor's feelings of alienation and anguish upon finding himself lost in a sea of foreign, uncaring and faceless travelers in JFK while watching footage of his country's civil war... well that was beautifully done, with huge credit to Spielberg's ability to summon, or assign himself, a large budget to actually build a massive chunk of an airport. Very nicely done, and visual expressions of emotion are definitely strengths Spielberg can put to great use when he chooses.
