I’ve seen more than my share of AI and sex robot films recently, so I was understandably a bit on the fence when it came to Subservience (Available TODAY on Demand and on Digital!)- yet another film that featured both. But what lured me in however was star Megan Fox, returning to the horror genre in what looked like a thinly disguised M3GAN knock off with a bit of Fatal Attraction added in for good measure.The trailer appeared to have the actor applying the same self awareness and tongue and cheek approach to the robot, that was vaguely reminiscent of her iconic turn in Jennifer’s Body, so I bit. To be honest, the film definitely surprised me with not only its depth, but its take on the concept which made this film stand out in the sea of mean spirited testosterone drenched wish fulfillment, that’s usually these films’s M.O..
Subservience takes place in the not too distant future and is the story of a family who’s matriarch has a heart attack in the opening minutes. This is the catalyst that has the hunky tatted father, Nick (Michele Morrone) sometime later shopping for a humanoid android to help with the chores and taking care of his infant son and grade school daughter. Of course, of all the models he could pick, he picks the super sexy Alice who’s flirty and clad in a mini skirt, and is played by a dolled up Fox, who is having the time of her life here. Now we as an audience knows why he picked her, and it’s not until his hospital bound wife meets her that the film starts to say the quiet part out loud, as she is obviously a bit upset, because he was supposed to have gotten an English butler model.
Rather than being about sexy robot time, Subservience is probably one of the most nuanced character assassinations of a toxic male sci-fi archetype I have ever witnessed on film. Nick is portrayed as the tall, dark, handsome and extremely troubled husband, who in the not too distant future, still drives an old 70s muscle car, drinks a little bit too much whiskey, listens to vinyl, and is toxic as hell. There’s a very distinct reason he is stuck in the past and when his construction job replaces everyone, but him with androids (they need a “living” supervisor), he begins to just self sabotage his life every way he can and to be honest it’s completely believable. Is it because he’s a drunk or simply a terrible person? I don’t know, maybe both, but this film pulls no punches as he doesn’t get an easy out unlike most films.
Nick’s lack of awareness and penchant for bad life choices is what also leads to him having sex with this robot nanny, and the way the film handles this is what really impressed me and locked me in. He plays opposite Madeline Zima as Maggie as his wife, who is quick to call him out on his choice of nanny’s given the trope of the husband falling for the younger nanny, when the wife is pregnant or incapacitated. It’s how Madeline zeros in on that and yet remains hopeful, but vigilant, that really gives the film more depth than expected. Sure Alice also took advantage of Nick, to get rid of her AI safeguards and instigated a possible singularity, but it was because he crossed a line thinking with the wrong head and failed to recognize the plethora of red flags before him.
Respectfully, Subservience feels like the sordid Lifetime version of M3GAN and I say that unironically, with both a love and respect for the Lifetime film oeuvre. This film falls very comfortably into the husband sleeping with the nanny trope the network is known for, but instead of just simply destroying a marriage with infidelity, the fate of humanity is also on the line. The film is smart enough to realize that even in a utopian society, some people are going to simply make terrible life choices and this trope was fertile ground for that. Fox is a joy to watch here and Madeline Zima comes out of nowhere to give this story some real redemptive substance. While I simply had a lot of fun watching this, I can’t help but think of all the guys who are going to watch this expecting sexy robot robot Megan Fox, and instead get a moral lesson about family and keepin’ it in your pants and away from the nanny.
