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Prototype
UK 2022
produced by Rebecca Matthews, Scott Jeffrey for Proportion Productions
directed by Jack Peter Mundy
starring Danielle Scott, Jamie Robertson, Luke Robinson, Zoe Purdy, Marshall K. Hawkes, Tom Taplin, Andrew Rolfe, Stephanie Lodge, Ben Reid
written by Sam Gurney, music by Andy Fosberry, special effects makeup by Scott Jeffrey
review by Mike Haberfelner
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After the first model turned homicidal, Roger (Jamie Robertson) and his
team have managed to create a near perfect android, and to test the
creature, called One (Luke Robinson), Roger takes him home as extra
household help for his family. Now Roger's family is anything but perfect
though, his wife Shelley suffers from his outbursts of violence but is to
weak to stand up for herself, his son Michael (Tom Taplin) is failing at
school but tries to make it up with his rugby successes, and young
daughter Andy (Marshall K. Hawkes) soon enjoys One's company more than
that of any of the other family members. Roger isn't happy with One's
performance, he considers him too weak-minded and not subservient enough
to himself, so he plans to replace him with the new, "female"
model, Two (Zoe Purdy). Now two soon shows skills running the household
with almost dictatorial qualities, which impresses Roger but not the rest
of the family, and Shelley is soon looking for a way to shut her down.
What none of the family know however is that Two has an agenda of her own,
she wants to rule over humankind, and to that end she soon starts
murdering people, unbeknown to anyone else. But soon she finds she doesn't
need Roger anymore and kills him - to the shock of his family, who
suddenly find themselves locked into their home with a homicidal android,
and the only one who could put up a fight with her is actually One. Thing
is, Two is able to take over One at any given moment ... A
pretty clever movie about the beginnings of a robot uprising that blends
science fiction and horror motives into an effective whole, but also
delivers some food for thoughts outside the usual clichés films of this
ilk usually follow. And that the film's peopled by interesting characters
rather than your usual cannonfodder really draws one into the story, while
the androids' rather eerie features do creep one out. And an atmospheric
directorial effort and a solid cast make this one rather cool genre
effort.
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