Swiftly, the two computers exchange data, team up, until Colossus basically cannibalizes Guardian, and, in the synergy of the two systems, establishes World Control. Through threats and actual detonation of nuclear devices, Colossus takes over, and Forbin is reduced to his creation’s slave. At first this is merely 24 hour monitoring, save for four times a week, for a faked romance with another scientist, Doctor Cleo Markham (Susan Clarke), working on Colossus, which blossoms into the real thing- albeit it never becomes a serious subplot, thankfully. And the tactfully screened nudity of the two lovers is to be applauded for the human body is not the focus of this film, any more than human love is.
This faux-cum-real romance allows Forbin to become more human by film’s end, even as he resists Colossus’s commands. One suspects that Colossus, despite stating it was allowing Forbin privacy, really just pretended to turn off in the bedroom, and monitored the scientists’ discussed plans to take it offline. After all, given all the conditions it assigns to allow Forbin sex, one suspects it suspects that more hanky-panky than sex is going on.
The end of the film, with mankind (and Forbin) beaten but not bowed, is sensational, for it just ends with Colossus eyeing a seething Forbin as it dictates to the world, then fades to black, as mankind’s domination of the world has come to an end. This is a theme that echoes in film series as diverse as Planet Of the Apes (Braeden starred as the villain, Dr. Otto Hasslein, in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes) and George Romero’s Living Dead films. The film retains its power because of a great script, terrific acting, and a great premise - beyond the evil computer takes over the world trope. Despite Colossus’s hubris, it never deviates from fulfilling Mankind’s and Forbin’s stated wish - assured peace, and advances in science.
Bridges’ screenplay never devolves into jingoism, when it easily could have. Both Americans and Russians are shown in positive and negative lights. The Americans are shown as dickwavers when Colossus is announced, and the Russians gleefully execute their computer expert on Guardian’s orders. Both the Soviet Premier and American President seem sincere in their desires for peace, and horrified that they have authorized their subordinates to create such monsters.
The acting is superb, from the German born Braeden (née Hans Gudegast, with a pre-Arnold Schwarzenegger Teutonic accent), who later achieved daytime television superstardom as Victor Newman in the soap opera The Young And The Restless, to Clarke as his lover, to even the unnamed JFK-like President, played by Gordon Pinsent. Other good performances are turned in by the mostly known by television actors in lesser roles, such as William Schallert as CIA Director Grauber, Georg Stanford Brown as Dr. John F. Fisher- one of the executed scientists, Alex Rodine as Dr. Kuprin, Marion Ross as Angela Fields, and Dolph Sweet as a Colonel in charge of nuclear defenses.
Article comments
1 - Ray Ellis
You are kidding, aren't you?
2 - Dan Schneider
No. More specifics?