During an interview with Time Out London for WAR HORSE, Stephen Spielberg had a bit to say about his upcoming film, ROBOPOCALYPSE.
‘It’s a movie about a global war between man and machine,’ the director tells me. ‘I had a great time creating the future on MINORITY REPORT, and it’s a future that is coming true faster than any of us thought it would. ROBOPOCALYPSE takes place in 15 or 20 years, so it’ll be another future we can relate to. It’s about the consequences of creating technologies which make our lives easier, and what happens when that technology becomes smarter than we are. It’s not the newest theme, it’s been done throughout science fiction, but it’s a theme that becomes more relevant every year.’
It’s certainly not the newest theme, especially since Daniel H. Wilson’s book is a blantant ripoff of Max Brooks’ WORLD WAR Z, with robots shoved in place of zombies. It’s a trick the author tried before to great (commercial) success with “How to Stop A Robot Uprising”, a blatant ripoff of Brooks’ “Zombie Survival Guide”. Unfortunately Brooks doesn’t have any more books for Wilson to copy, so his career may be at an end.
Still, even with my intense disdain of this hack writer I’ve got faith that Spielberg can do something interesting with it. He’s been on one helluva roll lately, seemingly reconnecting with the more adventurous period from his younger days, and it will be nice to see him try something darker again.