Zone 414

Short description: 2021 American film by Andrew Baird

Zone 414
Poster
Directed by	Andrew Baird
Produced by	Martin Brennan Jib Polhemus Deborah Shaw-Kolar Andrew Baird
Written by	Bryan Edward Hill
Starring	Guy Pearce Matilda Lutz Jonathan Aris Travis Fimmel
Music by	Raffertie
Cinematography	James Mather
Edited by	Tony Cranstoun
Production company	Highland Film Group El Ride Productions Northern Ireland Screen 23ten Productions Source Management + Production Bairdfilm Great Point Media
Distributed by	Saban Films
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million

Zone 414 is a 2021 American science fiction neo-noir thriller film directed by Andrew Baird in his debut feature film, and written by Bryan Edward Hill. The film stars Guy Pearce, Matilda Lutz, Jonathan Aris, and Travis Fimmel. It about a wealthy robot designer (played by Fimmel) who hires a private investigator (played by Pearce) after his adult daughter goes missing inside a walled city where humans can hire humanoid robots for sexual pleasure.

It was released in the United States on September 3, 2021 by Saban Films.

Synopsis

Zone 414 is a walled city of state-of-the-art humanoid robots which cater to wealthy clients, providing companionship and sex. When the genius inventor who created the robots and whose corporation runs Zone 414 realizes that his adult daughter Melissa has gone missing inside Zone 414, he hires private investigator David Carmichael to bring her home. David is a former police detective who was forced to retire after he shot his partner and a criminal during a hostage taking. He is still troubled by the death of his wife by suicide and his refusal of several offers of alcoholic drinks suggests he may be trying to stop drinking.

The Veidt Corporation tests David by asking him to shoot a woman who pleads for her life; David deduces that she must be a lifelike android and shoots her, passing the test. Next, psychologist Joseph Veidt interviews David to see if he is suitable for job, which requires discretion and willingness to work outside of the law. When he passes both tests, he meets Veidt's brother Marlon, the inventor and executive. Marlon tells David that Melissa, his adult daughter, has gone missing inside Zone 414. He wants David to find her without involving the police, fearing that news of a missing person in Zone 414 might lead to a crackdown on the zone's regulatory exemptions.

David pairs up with Jane, a highly advanced and self-aware robot with artificial intelligence, to track down the missing daughter. Jane has developed human-like emotions that transcend the surface depiction of emotions required in her work as a prostitute. She tells David that a man is leaving threatening messages and she has become afraid for her safety.

David meets Royale, the pimp who helps wealthy clients select a robot to cater to their sexual needs. He asks her if some wealthy clients are paying to be able to threaten robots like Jane, but Royale denies that she would comply with this request. He asks Royale about Melissa and she tells him that the daughter was pretending to be a robot and was hanging out at a gritty part of the city.

As Jane continues to face threats from her stalker, the pair discover Melissa hanging by a noose in an empty warehouse in a boatyard. David returns Melissa's body to Marlon and suggests that the authorities be alerted to Zone 414's dangers. When David meets Joseph Veidt to receive his payment, David goads the psychologist into admitting that he was stalking Jane. He tells David that when Melissa caught him torturing and killing androids, he killed her. Soon after, Joseph arrives at Jane's apartment, and attempts to immobilize her with a hand-held device. Jane is momentarily frozen, but regains mobility and overpowers Joseph. When David returns to see Jane, he offers his gun to Jane and she shoots Joseph dead.

Marlon Veidt is seen making adjustments to an android that looks exactly like Melissa (so she may have been a lifelike android all along or Veidt may be replacing the dead human daughter with an android). In the final scene, the Veidt Corporation gets David to record a statement claiming that Zone 414 is safe and they threaten David with legal action if he criticizes the android city.

Cast

• Guy Pearce as David Carmichael, a retired police detective now working as a private investigator
• Matilda Lutz as Jane, an advanced robot prostitute with artificial intelligence and self-awareness
• Travis Fimmel as Marlon Veidt, a wealthy robot inventor and corporate executive for the Veight corporation
• Jonathan Aris as Joseph Veidt, a psychologist who works for the Veight corporation
• Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Mr. Russell
• Olwen Fouéré as Royale, a pimp who helps wealthy clients select pleasure robots
• Colin Salmon as Hawthorne, a wealthy client seeking to purchase a lifelike AI robot
• Antonia Campbell-Hughes as Jaden
• Jorin Cooke as Hamilton
• Holly Demaine as Melissa Veidt

Production

On August 28, 2019, it was announced that Travis Fimmel is attached to play the lead role in the film. On January 21, 2020, Guy Pearce and Matilda Lutz joined the cast, Pearce replacing Fimmel, who took a supporting role instead.

Principal photography took place between February 6 and February 29, 2020 in Northern Ireland.

Release

The film was released in US theaters and on VOD on September 3, 2021 by Saban Films. The film made its SVOD debut on Netflix on January 1, 2022.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 17% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.20/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Zone 414 wastes a game Guy Pearce while ill-advisedly begging comparisons with numerous superior sci-fi thrillers." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 36 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Cath Clarke from The Guardian gave it two out of five stars and called it a "hollow Blade Runner copycat" in which the script is "completely devoid of ideas about what the future of AI might look like." Todd Gilchrist from What to Watch says that while "Director Andrew Baird deserves credit for nakedly aping one of sci-fi's most famous films,... he can't recreate its style or storytelling". Gilchrist states that the "'malfunctioning' android Jane" character (Matilda Lutz) has "lackluster dialogue", and noted that her character had "some interesting dimensions the movie needed to explore better". He criticized screenwriter Bryan Edward Hill for "front-load[ing] the film with too many ideas and references that its director, and its budget, cannot deliver [on]."

External links

• Zone 414 on IMDb