[yasr_overall_rating]
Six young computer hackers sent to work on a derelict spaceship, are forced to match wits with a vengeful artificial intelligence that would kill to be human.
The first thing that struck me about David Hewlett’s latest sci-fi thriller “Debug,” was how immaculately clean the central spaceship, the Orcus Freighter Amphitrite was. In “Alien,” we had the Nostromo, an M-Class mining freighter, in “Aliens,” it was the Sulaco, a C-class troop transport ship and in “Event Horizon,” we had a ship that was created for faster than light travel and what all of these spacecrafts had in common, was their overall design and appearance; industrial, unpolished and antiquated. Here, the ship is more akin to ‘Discovery One’ used in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” immaculate, orderly and unblemished, contradictory to any of the aforementioned crafts and that is appropriate because both movies pertain to A.I. gone awry.
As the movie begins, six young computer hackers are sent to work on a derelict space freighter as part of a work release program. Their jobs are to log into the system and delete any and all obsolete programs. However, one by one, they fall prey to Iam (Jason Momoa), a rogue human-software hybrid creating havoc on the network. The hackers soon discover the crew that previously populated the ship, were killed off by Iam in an unorthodox attempt to become human, or at least to know what it feels like to be human. As each of the hackers’ fears manifest one by one and consume its possessor, it is up to the remaining two survivors to log into the system and defeat Iam before they too become a part of the ship’s nightmarish legacy.
While “Debug” isn’t the most original film out there (it is comparative to Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Event Horizon,” a movie I truly enjoyed), director David Hewlett gives it its own identity while paying homage to Kubrick and Anderson. As an indie filmmaker myself, I found Mr. Hewlett’s use of low camera angles a welcome relief. Another filmmaker fond of this particular style of filmmaking is David Fincher and you only have to watch “Alien 3” for proof of that. Each of the characters are given enough of a backstory so that you can relate to them before they meet their demise and in a sci-fi horror flick such as this, that is a rarity, most other films of its ilk get right down to killing as quickly as possible, more akin to a slasher film in outer space.
While the movie is similar in tone to “2001: A Space Odyssey,” I have to admit, I was never a big fan of Kubrick. I found his movies to be exorbitantly long and too self-indulgent and I much preferred the film’s sequel, “2010.” Mr. Hewlett has worked in the film industry for over 30 years, primarily as an actor (“Stargate” fans may know him as Dr. Rodney McKay) but with “Debug,” he now has three directing credits under his belt and although it is obvious that the movie didn’t have a huge budget, it was quite apparent that he has larger than life ideas and I sincerely hope he continues down this road because with a bigger budget and a bigger script, I would absolutely love to see what he comes up with next.
Available on DVD June 9th
