by Phillippe Cahill
Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Verónica Echegui, Alberto Ammann, Tomar Novas, Alba Galocha
Intro:
The intended blend of noir and thriller elements with political conspiracies and the shady dealings of multinational lobbies is a potent mix with loads of promise that is sadly unrealised here.
It’s the near future and controversy rages as the Spanish Government looks to replace judges with AI software, in an avowed measure to speed up and depoliticise the justice system. Celebrated, distinguished Judge Carmen Costa (Verónica Echegui) is invited to review the new system ahead of its imminent full roll out. When the software’s lead engineer unexpectedly dies in a mysterious accident, and then the company’s new CEO disappears, Costa’s simmering reservations about the new system implementation compel her to investigate. But what moral and ethical lines is she crossing, and where do her responsibilities truly lie when justice and commerce begin to intersect?
With its topical blend of hot button concerns around the rise of artificial intelligence, modern justice systems buckling under the weight of overwhelming caseloads, and the role of media in driving and shaping public discourse, Artificial Justice is a would-be timely, taut, paranoid socio-politico-techno legal thriller in the vein of The Net, The Pelican Brief, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and Roman Polanski’s The Ghostwriter.
Unfortunately, the end result is a strangely lumbering, sterile and bloodless affair. Artifice is indeed the word of the day, with the film ultimately let down by overly predictable conspiratorial mystery plotting and director Simón Casal’s scandi-noir pretentions, which come across as more made for TV than cinematic.
It’s a shame, because the film is a quality production, boasting dramatically stark visuals, loads of interesting if ill-defined subtext, and a stacked cast of acclaimed award-winning talent, with four-time Goya nominee Verónica Echegui delivering a stunningly intense lead performance. Demonstrating a rare understanding of the power of stillness, Echegui wields it here with immense skill, control and intelligence, effectively establishing both character and motivation despite minimal dialogue.
But herein also lies the problem. As the camera repeatedly lingers on Echegui’s tightly controlled body language and the barely perceptible play of emotion across her face, the film’s absurdly moribund pacing becomes a major issue that utterly belies and undercuts the oft stated urgencies of the internecine plot.
The intended blend of noir and thriller elements with political conspiracies and the shady dealings of multinational lobbies is a potent mix with loads of promise that is sadly unrealised here. Despite the comparatively short runtime, you will indeed feel every one of this film’s 94 minutes and then some. If only Artificial Justice had more of the marriage of theme, atmosphere and propulsive narrative energy that made films like The Net and The Ghostwriter so much more effective and satisfying.
