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Archive executes its fairly basic program efficiently, offering sci-fi fans an engaging meditation on love and human nature. Read critic reviews
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Watch Archive with a subscription on Amazon Prime Video, rent on Apple TV, Vudu, or buy on Apple TV, Vudu.
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Archive videos
Archive: Trailer 1
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Movie Info
In 2038 a man hopes to reunite with his dead wife by building a human-equivalent A.I.
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Rating: R
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Genre: Sci-fi
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Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
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Director: Gavin Rothery
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Producer: Philip Herd, Theo James, Cora Palfrey
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Writer: Gavin Rothery
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Release Date (Theaters): limited
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $118.7K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
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Production Co: Metrol Technology, Independent, Head Gear Films, Hero Squared, Untapped
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Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for Archive
Audience Reviews for Archive
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"Give my creation life," screams Doc Frankenstein to the electrified heavens in one celebrated telling of this by now familiar tale, so what's to offer different? This outing spends time inspecting the good doctor's rationale, giving him something more to work with for his endeavors, as well as having him struggle with preliminary models along the way. While well done, it does drag some in the middle story-wise, although it makes up for it with a clever twist at the ending.
kevin w Super Reviewer -
Sometimes when watching a movie, I will get disappointed because I sense a path not taken that should have been, an intriguing premise that hasn't fully been developed, and I get sad that the movie I'm watching isn't really the best version of its potential story. Call it the Black Mirror Syndrome (oh, hot take). I felt this same assessment while watching two small indie films recently released on demand, one horror and one science fiction. Each has its own artistic merits and each I felt wasn't the best version of itself. Archive follows one scientist (Theo James) trying to replicate his dead wife Jules (Stacy Martin) into a physical robotic form. She died in a car accident but he was able to save her consciousness onto a server available to consumers, but it will fray over time and only delays her inevitable passing, so he's toiling away at a remote mountainous station to create a new host home to download her into. He's gone through two different robots, each more complicated and more representational of Jules' full brain; the first (J1) is like a box with legs and has the capacity of a child, the second robot (J2) is more like a teenager and reminiscent of the robot from I Am Mother, and the the third one (J3), under construction, looks the most human, and will contain the full brain activity and hopefully the full Jules. Archive is fine and goes just about where you would expect, with exception to a last-minute twist that doesn't make any sense. You can pick apart why it doesn't work but I guess they wanted something shocking. The problem is that this movie needed to be told from a different lead perspective. Rather than being told from the scientist's point of view as he doggedly tries to save the woman he knows, Archive should have been told from the second robot's perspective. J2 looks at what her master is doing with the third, seeing the time and attention he's putting into her, making her more feminine, and J2 feels pangs of jealousy and loneliness. She pleads for her master to make her better, asks why she isn't good enough, and wants to be better while he essentially strips her for parts for her replacement. I felt so much for this second robot and her sad plight with a cold, selfish, oblivious creator. If Archive had been told from J2's perspective, it could have been something special. She is going through a wealth of emotions, desiring to be all the things her creator projects onto his latest project, and she feels like she is failing him. When Archive focuses on its robots it's at its best, and when it goes back to its human trying to avoid losing his wife one last time, it becomes ordinary. It has some commendable production values and special effects for a lower budget indie. I wish the movie could have been rewritten from the start and given us the superior dramatic perspective to serve as our guide. Nate's Grade: C+
nathan z Super Reviewer
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