Abe (2013) User Reviews

Execution

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 8/10 · 1 September 2013]

The scene is quickly set: an attractive young woman wakes up restrained in a secluded area, and sees a collection of operating knives. Then someone approaches, and it turns out not to be a fellow person, but... a humanoid robot. He starts talking, and the terrifying truth becomes clear to us.

I won't give away more. While the backstory isn't original, this is without a doubt the most compelling representation in this medium. The 8 and a half minutes running time flies by with no lulls. This goes into themes that would make Asimov proud: are robots equivalent to people? At what point does building and programming them as servants become a civil rights issue? And this adds a rarer, chilling point: what will be the consequences of this, arguably, slavery?

The acting is excellent. If any one performance carries this, it is without a doubt that of Abe, the former butler-bot, or botler, if you will. It effortlessly strikes the difficult balance between a sparse, detached tone and a more affected one. Never letting us forget that this is a creation, not something... someone? who was born, and yet with the ever-present quality of emotion, drive, a past that has left an imprint.

FX are flawless, our titular mechanical endo-skeleton always feels like you could reach out and touch him. And they show the necessary restraint, with such graphic tools at their disposal - at no point is this flashy. The design is simultaneously creepy and vulnerable, and you could see this/him in a normal home, with a mix of the utilitarian and the "familiar".

There is disturbing content(as an underlying sense throughout the entire production)and blood in this. I recommend this to any fan of Asimov. 8/10

Never The Cynical Pitch It Could Have Ended Up As

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 30 March 2014]

Did someone mention this feels like a pitch rather than a short film in its own right ? Just checking with both the IMDb and The Short Of The Week website it just so happens to turn out that writer/director Rob McLellan has been given the go ahead by MGM to turn this in to a feature length film . If we're being cynical then it's easy to state that this was indeed the agenda behind ABE the short film . Not to be entirely cynical it should be pointed out that a lot of short films use the exact same technique and when it's obvious like the Edward Snowdon inspired short VERAX boy oh boy it is too painfully obvious for words and if someone was standing at a street corner holding a begging bowl with a sign round their neck saying " Give me some money to make a feature film guv . I haven't eaten for three days " it wouldn't be any more cynical

In its favour it does in grammar terms have a present continuous feel . By that I mean the actions Abe has started happened before the story started and are still continuing . Some suspension of disbelief might be needed as to why someone felt the need to build a robot with emotions and the fact a robot walking around kidnapping or at the very least stalking women might lead to police attention , but I guess if recent cases are to go by the police can't investigate any sort of sexual crime unless it's thirty years old . Abe does give away enough exposition to make the audience clearly understand his motives and they are believable to an extent . What ABE holds as a winning hand is the emotionless but effective vocal talents of Sam Hoare . Yeah a flat computer voice wreaking havoc while speaking calmly has been done many times before most famously in 2001 but here it works very well . I somehow doubt if the feature length version of ABE will be a massive success but here's hoping it doesn't pander to Hollywood by having lots of explosions and CGI

It Goes Where It Goes

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 5 April 2019]

It's all set out there. A robot who loves but gets none in return, turns to trying to "fix" those that don't love him. Unfortunately, he is a machine and has no expertise in handling human bodies. He is soft spoken. He covers the mouth of the young woman so she is not able to respond in any way. It is a brutal little film.

Feels like a pitch or a pilot and as a result feels like it fell short of what it should have achieved

[bob the moo · 21 February 2014]

A familiar scene to horror viewers – a victim wakes up chained to a bed in a dark place, surrounded by plastic sheeting. Her captor comes in and delivers a monologue to her while toying with the knives which lay close by. It is nothing particularly new as a thing however in the case of Abe the lead character is a robot rather than a human. In the monologue we hear of his programming to love and his desire to achieve love back but at the same time he is frustrated because maybe he is not worthy of it, maybe he has no soul as others do but at the end of the day he is yet to find consistent love and the fault not being with him must be with others.

Sometimes with short films you get the feeling that the maker is only interested in his piece in so far as it serves him or her; so rather than the film being made because the medium of short film is the perfect way to tell the story, it is done as a calling-card or pitch to try to get a bigger project off the ground. In theory I understand this and don't mind watching these but generally it must be said that the films that take this approach are generally not as good as those that set out to deliver from the get-go. This unfortunately is the case with Abe because it works better as a suggestion than as a whole; in fact if the structure feels like anything it feels like a pilot for a series because we get the introduction, we get interest in the character and we get the continuation as the conclusion. On this level it works and I enjoyed the genre style of the delivery and the writing, but only when viewed as a pilot.

Watching it as a standalone you wonder why it didn't try to do more and why all aspects of it seem to be pointing to something else. Take away the goal and the animation and you have a serial killer scene the type of which Dexter has done for many years and not too much is added to enhance it as a genre scene. The sci-fi element makes it interesting and the monologue from Abe is good so it is enjoyable in that sense, just frustrating to have it be so specific and then open into nothing. Animation is very good though and Abe mostly blends well with the real world.

Abe is a character I would have liked to see more of and I do think that this short could have been a pitch and a complete short with a more satisfying conclusion and delivery. It still works on its strengths but it feels like a pitch or a pilot and as such has weaknesses inherent in the approach; it is good I wanted to see more, just a shame that as a result the short feels like it fell short of what it should have achieved.

Brief, scary, poignant

[gee-15 · 7/10 · 26 January 2023]

A young woman finds herself bound and gagged to a chair in what appears to be a large empty warehouse. A tray next to the chair contains several surgical instruments (we know this isn't a good place to be). A robot comes up and begins talking in soft soothing tones, asking if she's comfortable. And then it picks up a scalpel. I've watched this short film several times because I find it fascinating. The robot effect is done well and the voice is pitch perfect as it attempts to explain to the frightened woman why it does what it does. I don't find this film to provide much insight into AI but rather the forces that drive us to love or kill that we say we understand but don't. In the end, the robot assumes (like so many of us) that the fault lies with others. Also kudos to the actress who gets no dialogue but whose expressive eyes move from fear, to hesitant pity to outright terror in the space of a few minutes. I felt the last scene of the robot ogling another young woman to be unnecessary. I think the dialogue would have been sufficient. Overall, cool creepy film.

One without the other.

[riverwildeuk · 6/10 · 21 January 2014]

Undoubtedly, many will come to this short after having read that the visual effects artist/director has managed to secure a feature of the same name and idea. On that, kudos to the filmmaker. While the visual effects specifically that of our anti-hero, a robot, ABE, are great to watch - the short itself is lacking a story. I guess one could say this is a futuristic slice of life sketch and not a story; a 'character study' of a robot without a story. The edit helps the rather bland camera work and of course the post also went a long way to help create the sinister look. However, this story is hardly original and moreover fails in being compelling. One can foresee the character of Abe is what the studios bought into and will develop a 90-120 minute film around with many more characters for him to be unleashed on. Thumbs up to the visual artistry but am not convinced any filmmaker deserves to be the next big thing if they are incapable of story-telling.

Maybe this time a super robot film will get made

[angiris · 9/10 · 2 May 2014]

Abe...The psychotic robot...searching for someone to love him.

Ha ha ha that is just so awesome! God... I wish that Rob McLellan will turn this into an actual Hollywood blockbuster or something because GOD KNOWS!!! it has the potential to be so. God...

This short film is about to BURST of potential. This must be continued!

Damn good short film. Really entertaining, deep and profound message. There's this profound need and desire for love and if not gotten then Abe here will go to incredible lengths to try anyway...

Really symbolic, incredible psychological, disturbing and even though Abe is a bit of a fruitcake we can't help but to love him and feel for him for being so lonely in the world.

Highly recommendable guys. This is good stuff. Once again, I hope to god McLellan will turn this into a longer film!

Abe: Concept not story

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 22 September 2018]

Take the robot from I, Robot (2004) then make a 7 minute short combining concepts from Bicentennial Man (1999) and a torture porn movie and you have Abe.

It's a quaint little short that looks fantastic and clearly had money behind it. The trouble is that there is no story here, merely a concept. This would have been a great method of pitching an idea to a studio, but as a short it falls somewhat short. (Pun intended)

It tells the tale of a robot that once served a family, but after losing their love he proceeds to try and "fix" people believing them broken and does it in a less than pleasant manner.

The script is great and in some sick twisted way you can totally empathise, for that reason I actually found myself more than a little saddened by the premise but doubly so when I realised there wasn't going to be an actual story here.

Sure shorts have limitations imposed on them due to the length but they can still have a beginning/middle/end and this doesn't.

Someone pick this concept up and make a feature film out of it!

The Good:

Looks great

Well written

Excellent premise

The Bad:

No real structure

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

This furthers my stance on robots and my stance is NO

This would make a wicked twist for a Bicentennial Man 2

Not as creative as it pretends to be

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 21 September 2013]

British director Rob McLellan is probably one of the most prolific workers in his branch these days. "Abe" is already the 8th short-film he shot in the last 4 years and probably his most known work to this day. I wonder if we will soon see a feature film from him, possibly starring Abe or having him in a cameo. I'm not too sure I'd go see it, however, as this eight-and-a-half-minute short film didn't particularly impress me.

We see a woman waking up gagged and tied to a chair. Moments later, her kidnapper enters the scene. It's Abe, the robot. From this moment on, until nearly towards the end he holds a monologue about inner motivations, love and rejection. I guess the point of this film is to show us how all these experiences could also happen to human beings, but I really wasn't convinced. At one point, when he asks his victim: "Do I have a soul?" and the camera switches to the victim, it was almost unintentionally hilarious like she must have asked herself "WTF is going on here? This can't be real." Anyway, I didn't feel any sympathy for the robot and this is probably one of the keys why I couldn't really enjoy this one that much. The execution was okay, but the story simply wasn't compelling enough. So for now, I'd say give this one a pass.

love

[Kirpianuscus · 2 July 2022]

It is a sketch. A good one because its only purpose can be propose an idea , a simple and precise one about near future.

A robot preserving memories about the family who it served. And using the rejection as premise for discover the love. In its manner. The film is so well crafted , the story - just touching to creepy, the voice of Abe - perfect and the temptation to see it as a sort of parable - far to be small.

A beautiful short film , at the border of Sci Fi and horror.