I TRIED to like this movie. And I watched it all the way thru but I had to make myself. I was confused for most of the movie what the theme was. The very beginning introduction about capitalism and socialism did not make much sense and was never explained or brought up again. The story is VERY vague. There is little input to allow us into the thoughts of the characters and very little conversation. I never knew what they were thinking. Every other scene was a sex scene. And in between those scenes the same scene of the android standing naked with lights moving about her was repeated over and over as well.. I suppose she was being charged? The acting was barely ok. The serbian accents made it difficult to understand what they were saying. I would of preferred the actors spoke in their native language, and provided subtitles.... maybe it would of felt more genuine. The setting was a space ship that appeared to have 2 rooms? The corporation that was financing the trip could afford an android, but the ship looked old and dark? This movie never came together for me. At the end I was bored to tears. No action. No plot. No theme. No story. No reason. Vague Vague Vague.

"The year 2148. Every corner of Earth has been exploited by capitalism. Socialist controls are instated to bring about balance for the human condition. The largest corporations begin to look beyond the planet. Ederlezi Corporation expands its deep space colonization program to Alpha Centauri."

The above lines are the opening scene text to A.I. RISING (a.k.a. EDERLEZI RISING). In the next few moments, the male lead of the movie, astronaut Milutin, is informed that he is being sent on a mission to, and I quote here, "install an ideology" on a planet in Alpha Centauri. What. Ever. That. Means. The name of the ideology to be "installed" was unfamiliar to me so it wasn't clear what the benefit to a corporation would be in mounting an expensive mission to "install" it.

Next, Milutin is informed that, unlike his previous space voyages, he'll be taking along a female android to help meet his various, ahem, "needs", and keep him focused on his duties on the mission. I know. It sounds like a bad set up for a terrible porno flick, and, somehow conveniently, the android is played by Jessica Stoya Stoyadinovich, a well-known pornographic actress more commonly known by her professional name, "Stoya".

The balance of the film plays out on the spaceship on its journey to Alpha Centauri. Ostensibly, the movie "explores" the elements and issues that might complicate theoretically possible near-future human-artificial intelligence relationships.

On the positive side, A.I. RISING certainly makes some bold stylistic statements, bravely ignoring the fact that they may not make any sense given the context. A.I. RISING has its own, strong sense of production design and, as rather peculiar as some of the set pieces may be, they're clearly deliberate and consistent. The movie has its own ideas and commits to them wholeheartedly.

Again, the primary setting of the movie is that of a spaceship traveling in space. Consequently there are more than a few images of the ship moving through space in the context of planets, stellar dust, nebulae and other cosmic phenomena. These effects are executed more than competently and in some circumstances are quite beautiful.

Whether you're going to enjoy this movie depends I think on whether you like your "science fiction" mixed with an art-house style that likes to obsessively contemplate its own navel. The movie is far more concerned with its art-house style and making exaggerated statements about controlling, toxic masculinity. Anything vaguely related to "science" is completely subordinated to the movie's "art". The 2 human characters we see are stereotyped well past the point of caricature and the only reason we can't say that about the android is none of us have ever met an android so we don't know if they're being caricatured.

The android spends most of "her" time naked. To remind us that she's an android while she's naked, there is a collection of black tattooed characters beneath the curve of her left breast. Because, you know, that's what androids have. And because if she didn't she'd just be another naked chick in the movies. Most of the time we see her naked it's for no apparent reason. Or maybe it's because art. I don't know.

The interior of the spaceship is depicted as consisting largely of giant empty voids, which spaceships simply do not have because of the fact that such voids exponentially increase the cost of operating the ship.

As long as you view A.I. RISING as an art-house exercise that is not science-fiction and simply has a spaceship as a set piece for no particular reason, A.I. RISING will be more palatable. Genuinely, it's a sort of psychosexual masturbation piece that ports the notion of toxic male/female relationships to toxic male/AI relationships.

I rank movies on a relativistic scale. A movie is taken relative to whether the movie was what it intended to be and how well it ranks against other movies of its kind. I gave A.I. RISING a relatively low score because it intended to be a visually stunning art-house movie. While it had A FEW impressive scenes in it, it wasted so much time lingering interminably on unchanging images that the overall effect was visual stagnation. For example, there are scenes where the android is standing in a sort of alcove set into a wall as lights go up and down in the alcove; this is supposed to be a sort of charging station for the android. We seem to stare incessantly at these lights-going-up-and-down each time we see a scene like this and it was many times. The director apparently fell in love with some of his own visuals and wished the audience to stare at them relative to how much he loved them.

A.I. RISING was directed by Lazar Bodroza who originally made a name for himself as a visual artist. If he's going to be successful as a director he's going to need to get past some of his gosh-I-love-my-own-images tendencies.

And there you have it.

In 2148 Ederlezi corporation is sending a craft to Alpha Centauri. No information on how long or the propulsion system. Milutin (Sebastian Cavazza) is the cosmonaut that will fly the craft. Nimani (Stoya) is the cyborg that will accompany him. Milutin can program her for various option. Seduction being his favorite. After a while, a Stepford wife is not what Milutin wants, but something more real.

The film is about "the relationship" a way to give women assurances men really love them for themselves and not just the sex. Good luck with that. Pretty boring, even with the nudity. Not much for science fiction fans.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity, rape.