The future of AI robotics never seems to have a silver lining, and here’s a new nightmarish vision of what could come to pass from Jung_E, the latest film from Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan). The Netflix release is slated to hit the streaming service exclusively on January 20, 2023.
The official synopsis from Netflix reveals a tease of the plot: “In a post-apocalyptic 22nd century, a researcher at an AI lab leads the effort to end a civil war by cloning the brain of a heroic soldier—her mother.”
Watch the teaser below:
The sleek, dystopian shine of Kronoid Lab’s “most advanced A.I. combat warrior” invokes a feeling of dread when the very human-looking creation is built. Even the full-on wired brain that looks like one of those steel wool sponges gave me the icks. The framing of the teaser being like an ad for the latest upgrade in tech made me feel like it’s more of an “upgrade you” situation. We’re definitely intrigued by this thriller premise and can’t wait to see how the researcher fares in putting her mother into the body of what will probably be the world’s most dangerous killer. What could possibly go wrong?
This feels like a new imaginative trip from Yeon, though we’re still hoping for another Busan film. In the meantime you can also catch the filmmaker’s recent Netflix project Hellbound, a near-future supernatural series based on his webtoon, which is now streaming. You can watch Jung_E on Netflix starting January 23, 2023.
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