Mars Express (2023)

By the 23rd century, Mars has been colonised by humanity thanks to advanced android technology. It’s here that private investigator “Aline” and her robotic counterpart “Carlos” have been hired to track down an hacker by the gazillionaire owner of one of the leading tech companies. Pretty swiftly they realise that this is going to be a dangerous and duplicitous business and they are soon embroiled in something altogether more internecine and sinister. Now the plot here isn’t the most original, indeed for much of the first hour is does scream “I, Robot” (2004) at us, but then it embarks on something more original as the concept of brain farming is introduced. This is essentially the harvesting of excess brain capacity from people who are selling their cerebral processing capacity to help create the ultimate in AI. The question is, why and who for? Moreover, as this duo dig deeper they begin to discover some uncomfortable truths about the evolving dynamic in the relationship between human beings and their supposedly subservient automated creations. The animation is stylish and there’s plenty of shoot-out action for ninety minutes here, but it’s really the philosophy that helps this stand out. It challenges so many assumptions about a master/servant relationship and delivers a denouement that I found to be sensibly apposite. It packs quite a bit of thought and creativity into it and is well worth a watch.