Automata

"Your time is coming to an end – Ours is now beginning"

2014 1h 50m EN

😐

5.9

MID

🥫

31%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★5.9TMDB · 1,874🥫31%Rotten Tomatoes●37Metacritic★6IMDB · 61,417

ThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Jacq Vaucan, an insurance agent of ROC robotics corporation, routinely investigates the case of manipulating a robot. What he discovers will have profound consequences for the future of humanity.

“Your time is coming to an end – Ours is now beginning”

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Cast

Antonio Banderas
Jacq Vaucan
Melanie Griffith
Dr. Susan Dupré / Cleo (voice)
Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Rachel Vaucan
Dylan McDermott
Wallace
Robert Forster
Robert Bold
Tim McInnerny
Vernon Conway
Andy Nyman
Ellis
David Ryall
Dominic Hawk

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gabe Ibáñez
Writers: Gabe Ibáñez, Igor Legarreta, Javier Sánchez Donate
Languages: English
Countries: Bulgaria, Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 89% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Bulgaria, Spain.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gabe Ibáñez, shot by Alejandro Martínez. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Zacarías M. de la Riva. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sergio Rozas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Your time is coming to an end – Ours is now beginning".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gabe Ibáñez directs. Alejandro Martínez behind the camera. Zacarías M. de la Riva scores. Sergio Rozas cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Bulgaria, Spain. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 89% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 12 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Bulgaria, Spain.
4Directed by Gabe Ibáñez, shot by Alejandro Martínez. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Zacarías M. de la Riva. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Sergio Rozas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Your time is coming to an end – Ours is now beginning".
9IMDB entry: tt1971325 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "future", "artificial intelligence (a.i.)", "hitman", "dystopia".
11Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Alejandro Martínez
Original score: Zacarías M. de la Riva
Editing: Sergio Rozas
Production design: Patrick Salvador
Costume design: Armaveni Stoyanova
Makeup / hair: Mariana Love
VFX supervisor: David Ramos
Sound: Gabriel Gutiérrez
Stunt coordinator: Stanimir Stamatov
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $6,237,990
Return: 89% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Automata (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 31% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 37/100
IMDB rating: 6/10 · 61,417 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

6 nominations total

Also by

Gabe Ibáñez

Stills · wallpapers

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

radu.berbece2014-11-01
I have just watched it and I have no clue as to what it's message was. Just a pointless movie really.
CinemaSerf2026-05-03
★ 6/10
Following a series of environmental catastrophes, mankind has been reduced to one single sity of 20 million souls living under an umbrella of artificial clouds that do what they can to provide rainwater. Determined to reclaim some of their lost territory, the ominous "ROC Corporation" creates it's latest robot - the "Pilgrim" to try to help humanity. It has two rules: it can't harm or allow a person to be harmed and it cannot harm or alter itself or another android. Pretty watertight security protocols, eh? Sort of like in "iRobot" (2004) eh? Anyway, when one of these mechanical critters is shot by sceptical policeman "Wallace" (Dylan McDermott) who suspects that some altering was indeed going on, the company drafts in investigator "Vaucan" (Antonio Banderas) to get to the bottom of things. This man has an ulterior motive in taking on this job, as he wants to be able to relocate his heavily expectant wife "Rachel" (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) to the seaside. A visit to a brothel introduces them to the blue haired "Cleo" and thence to scientist "Dupré" (Melanie Griffith) who advises that it might well be that the robots don't need any human intervention to change their programming, but that a natural evolution might be possible enabling them to become self aware and then, obviously, to take steps to advance their own species whether human beings liked it or not. Needless to say, the corporates cannot allow even an hint of such information to reach the public or the politicians, and so they takes steps that see "Vaucan" turn from hunter to hunted - and by noneother than "Wallace", too. Might a solution lie with the enigmatic "Clocksmith" or might the entire human race be doomed? Banderas does his best here, and some of the animatronic visual effects are impressive but the story is simply too derivative and the dialogue - of which there is plenty - has a blandness to it that doesn't really help to characterise either "Vaucan" or anyone else, nor does it really fill in many of the puzzling plot-holes that curiously pepper this sci-fi drama. It's portents of the dangers of self growing AI are clearly presented to anyone who is anxious about the automation of our society and of our increasing dependence on that, but again none of that is exactly original either. It's worth a watch, but I was disappointed.

Production companies