My Thoughts on I Am Mother

I Am Mother is an awesome idea on paper. A film set in a secret facility, where a lone robot raises the last child on the planet, following an apocalyptic event? Sounds pretty interesting. An injured survivor finds her way into the bunker, bringing with her the truth about what really happened outside the facility? Sounds even better. So it's a real shame that I didn't enjoy this film at all. Believe me, it brings me no joy to say this, but I Am Mother was an absolute disappointment. It's an awesome idea for a film, and seeing this kind of thing make it onto the screen is pretty impressive, because original high concept sci-fi is always great to see, and I'm really glad to see so many people enjoying it

The problem for me is that it's just so boring. The film feels like a two hour episode of Black Mirror, one with a good premise but without any real commentary. Those episodes work because they're (usually) around an hour long, just enough time to explore a single idea in depth. I Am Mother runs out of steam with its premise fairly quickly, even when new developments try to change things up. The problem is that core idea, one that's so solid that it's actually kind of difficult to stretch over a two hour feature film. The first twenty or so minutes are pretty good, succeeding on the strength of a really good idea. The problem is when they try to develop that, with reveals that just over complicate a winningly simple idea.

Technically, it's not even that bad. The film looks AMAZING, with fantastic effects. It's shot really well, and all of this gives the bunker such a strong atmosphere. The performances are pretty good too, with the whole thing almost working like an underground play. The general ideas are pretty good, even if the later ones can't quite top the initial premise, or even really develop the plot beyond it at all. It's made of good components, but it's just so freaking boring. All of this stuff is good, it just never quite comes together, with the glacial pacing not doing the already thin plot any favours.

I Am Mother is a great idea that suffers from being stretched thin over a runtime that's definitely longer than it should be. As good as everything around it is, it never quite comes together because of that stretch. It's a dull watch, and while that twist at the end should feel monumental, it's really not, because it's just too hard to really care about anything that's going on, so by the time that reveal comes in, it's just.... kind of something that happens. It's a real shame, too, because this could have been really good, and this kind of high concept sci-fi is definitely something to celebrate when it's done well, but this just doesn't work. I don't hate it, but I also don't think it works, not half as well as it should, anyway.