机器管家 Bicentennial Man review by Chris Grunden

Based on a 1975 Isaac Asimov short story by the same name and a novel he co-authored with Robert Silverberg entitled The Positronic Man, Bicentennial Man has an interesting premise that's unfortunately Chris Columbus-ized, meaning whatever truly thought-provoking sci-fi or philosophical concepts the original material contained have been watered down to sentimental blandness. This overlong film begins in the early 21st century and spans 200 years as it tracks the existence of a robot who's faithfully connected to an affluent family for generations. Robin Williams, subdued and playing for sympathy here as opposed to laughs, spends much of the film beneath an impressively constructed 250-part metallic suit. As Andrew (a nickname for android), he's the new resident domestic of a clockmaker known simply as 'Sir' (Sam Neill). Andrew's owners soon realize that their robot is not your average bag of bolts, for he begins exhibiting human traits of creativity, curiosity and friendship (he enjoys carving wooden animals to please Sir's youngest daughter). Andrew is treated like family, but what he really wants is to be human, both in a physical and a legal sense. He locates Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt), an eccentric robotics freak who gives him a human appearance and biologically rebuilds him to the extent that he can have a physical relationship with a woman.

Bicentennial Man boasts more notices along the lines of '15 years later' than any film I can remember, but there's scant dramatic goings-on to justify the film's epic scope. The most intriguing philosophical issues raised involve Andrew's grappling with the notion of what it means to be free (a concept which holds particular weight for him after he learns about the history of American slavery), and his coming to grips with the reality of ceaseless existence in the face of seeing those he loves age and pass away. The rebuilt robot ultimately chooses to challenge Sir's observation that time is endless for him and decides to follow his female companion and complete a natural life cycle rather than live forever as a machine. The Asimov source material is certainly timely now that we are at the dawn of the 21st century and artificial life is wholly imaginable, but Columbus, who has a seemingly endless thirst for the insipid, is simply the wrong director for the job. Kids will laugh a bit at Williams' more lighthearted robot shtick, but both they and older audiences will lose patience as the film turns more serious 'Mork and Mindy' this isn't. When Williams mugs, he can be intolerable, but in Bicentennial Man his mostly serious demeanor matches the film's aspiration to be a heart-tugging human drama. Williams' one quietly affecting moment comes when he finally gets his new human face. He takes a long look in the mirror, looks again, and finally turns to Platt and quietly says 'Thank you.' After seeing his features masked beneath a metallic suit for so long, we can understand how he feels. The rest of the cast is solid if unexceptional, with Embeth Davidtz gamely playing both Sir's youngest daughter Little Miss and her own granddaughter Portia, who becomes Andrew's life mate. Despite the best efforts of production designer Norman Reynolds, who fashions a futuristic San Francisco, Bicentennial Man remains firmly grounded in the present.

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