The Awareness (2014) Reviews

• Atmospheric and tight sci-fi

  bob the moo2014-02-22

  A janitor is cleaning up in a small tech startup firm when he finds one of the computer engineers working late. The engineer mocks him about his lowly position in life when compared to his important work, before leaving to go home. The janitor carries on but soon the "work" the engineer spoke of starts to communicate – an artificial intelligence which is held on a server disconnected from the network. The computer informs the janitor that tomorrow the engineer will ignore company orders to shut the computer down and instead will release it, which will see it then "solve" all the problems in the world by wiping out humanity. The computer needs help to prevent this. Although the cinematography here is very dark, it perhaps suits the tone and atmosphere of a short film which begins with cruelty and ends in a satisfyingly cruel way. In the middle we have a nice dialogue sequence between the computer and the janitor where tension is raised and kept high. There is a brooding darkness to the whole piece as the janitor tries to make his decision and, although it is a big story to tell in such a short film, it actually works very well to have it condensed down. It does feel like the start of something bigger and aside from one or two limiting aspects, it does feel like a bit expensive project. The performances are mostly good – the janitor is well played by Bent while Porter is importantly rude as the engineer. Himadeh's voice is well used as the machine. Dunham directs well albeit with a dark palate. His brooding atmosphere works very well and the conclusion is particularly memorable and satisfying. Very tightly done piece of sci-fi.

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• The genre isn't my favorite and story and actors could not make up for that

  Horst_In_Translation2018-01-31

  "The Awareness" is an American 17-minute live action short film in the English language and this one was released back in 2014, so it will have its 5th anniversary next year. It is the first and so far only work by writer and director Henry Dunham and for a rookie effort, it isn't too shabby. It is based on 2 characters in the center of it all, who at times seem very different in this dialogue-driven film, not just different profession-wise. Add to that the sci-fi element of artificial intelligence, computers and actual awareness and you know well enough what this one is about and if the genre and subject are interesting enough to you to check this one out. The cast are not well-known, but that's not the problem here, at least not the biggest problem. I personally did not rerally manage to make a connection with any of the characters and wonder what would happen next to them, or just wonder what would happen next to the entire scenario. The ending wasn't too bad I guess, also from the atmospheric perspective. Overall, a close call, but I give this one a thumbs-down. Still if you like sci-fi more than I do, feel free to check this one out and you probably won't be too disappointed.

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• No Law Suit Required

  Theo Robertson2014-03-05

  Early in his career James Cameron was sued by science fiction writer Harlan Ellison . What happened you see Ellison wrote couple of episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS and twenty years later when THE TERMINATOR was released Ellison jumped to the conclusion that Cameron and the studio had stolen wholesale everything from these episodes and ran to his lawyers . Cameron and the production company Hemdale settled out of court and later prints of THE TERMINATOR have an acknowledgment to the works of Ellison at the start of the end credits . Truth be told there's very little evidence Ellison had been ripped off and that anything Cameron has used in the movie is purely coincidental . In fact if somebody should have sued Cameron it should have been Louis Marks whose 1972 DOCTOR WHO story Day Of The Daleks features a premise of freedom fighters from the future travelling back to the 2oth Century and inadvertently causing World War Three which leads to the Daleks ruling over a subjugated Mankind . It should be pointed out that this isn't legally plagiarism and the fact Cameron and Hemdale were so quick to settle was probably to stop a long running legal battles where future productions are held up over copyright wrangles I mention this because THE AWARENESS by Henry Dunham does use an important plot point from THE TERMINATOR - one of a computer becoming self aware and seeing the human race as a rival that must be eliminated . You're instantly struck as to how identical this is to the Skynet program from THE TERMINATOR movies . Mr Dunham can probably rest easy because while Skynet is copyrighted the concept of self aware computers are not even if you're called Harlan Ellison Mr Dunham has made his own movie and has managed to do something memorable with the simple and basic idea of two men sitting in a room talking . Thankfully the director has resisted the temptation to do a lot with the camera and it's noticeable how many short film makers fall in to the self inflicted trap of flashy visuals when they're not needed . Instead the audience are easily left to assimilate the information and exposition given out by the dialogue . There are a couple of bits where startle moments happen and this is done via sound mix . It's a cheap trick but a well done one in a highly satisfying science fiction story

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