Colossus: The Forbin Project

source: Colossus: The Forbin Project

With all deference to the comments of a previous reviewer (that Big Brother was a TV show, instead of one of the most influential novels of the 20th century), this movie is not about an all-knowing computer that runs every individual's personal life. In fact, the movie shows us that that granular level of control is not necessary. Colossus is a supercomputer designed for the defense of the country. The problem is that it is built so well, that it begins to make imaginative plans of its own. Shortly after activation, it discovers that another system, Guardian, has been built by the Soviets. In an effort toward scientific curiosity, the two countries allow for communication between the two systems. The systems combine and plot for the control of the planet. The plot leaves us, short story style, to imagine what takes place from here on. Several notable sci-fi buffs have suggested, and rightly so, that the story behind Colossus is eerily similar in concept to the story of Skynet in the Terminator series In fact, the story of the third movie would have been better served by following this script than the one used! This is a very underrated movie, asking many questions that are even more pertinent today.

Aside from the lunatic premise that we'd ever perpetually lock ourselves into the nuclear-hostage situation of Mutual Assured Destruction, thus forever ending any hope of real nuclear disarmament (to say nothing of possible changing geo-political situations, such as the fall of the Soviet Union), this movie had some real plot holes. I saw Colossus: The Forbin Project when it was first released, and even at 10 years old I noted a particular plot-hole large enough to drive a semi through. Colossus/Guardian only hold their power thru the fact that they control America and Russia's nuclear-tipped ICBM's, right? Then why not de-fang this monster right at the source? Secretly move troops into the areas of our and the Russians ICBM launch complexes, ringing them with machine guns, anti-air artillery, and SAM's (surface-to-air missiles) -- then let Colossus/Guardian TRY firing them off! An ICBM coming out of a silo is EXTREMELY vulnerable -- it's relatively slow, very thin-skinned, and filled with highly-explosive propellant. One good machine-gun burst would puncture it's skin and blow it to bits (to say nothing of what the radar-controlled anti-air artillery and heat-seeking SAMs that existed in 1970 could do). Our ICBM force's credibility as a deterrent always took for granted that we would have physical control of the ground around the ICBM silos -- otherwise they could be "taken out" as soon as they emerged from the ground. (Also note that accidental detonation of the warhead when the missile blows up is virtually impossible; the only slight risk might involve a small amount of radiation leakage from the warhead's plutonium components -- but all our ICBM sites are located in remote areas, anyway). What I'd realized back in 1970 was confirmed in the 1980's when I was attached to a strategic missile test squadron at Vandenberg AFB (the Air Forces' premier missile test facility), not only gaining a working-knowledge of our ICBMs but witnessing many test launches. Verbal orders passed along to move troops into the ICBM areas would have ensured no Colossus/Guardian eavesdropping and pre-emptory launches. Once in place the super-computers' would have been thoroughly "check-mated". And just imagine Colossus/Guardian's surprise when they launched some missiles to teach us dumb humans who's the boss, and each missile got flamed within a thousand yards of it's silo! "Goodbye, Colossus! Goodbye, Guardian! Take your orders and shove them!"

I have not seen this movie in 30 years, but I remember every scene as if it were yesterday, and the deep feelings that I had when I first saw it lingers on as well. THOSE are the marks of a truly memorable film. If a film like this were made today, even including a contemporary problem to replace the Cold War theme, it would go over the heads of a majority of the audience. Why? Because the movie-going public wants blow-em-up action to go along with any plot. Except for the cities that the twin terrors Colossus-Guardian nuke (almost off camera), this has none. Secondly, this is a thinking-person's movie that goes beyond the typical "Machines take over the world" theme that we've seen in the Terminator series and the Matrix series. What makes this move work on so many levels is that it taps into our greatest fears -- one of which is NOT death, but the loss of control over our lives. Why are people afraid to fly when their chances of being killed in an auto crash are so many times greater? Loss of control. These supercomputers were designed to act in the place of humans by making human-like decisions such as "Kill or be killed" and "Offense makes the best defense." Unlike other machines vs. humans, in this movie, the computers do not fear humans, or even dislike them. Even when they kill a few million, it is done without malice. It is pure logic, and that is what is also scary -- making decisions without regard to the value of a single, human life. To the computer, deaths are just statistics, and in the "Mutually-Assured-Destruction" mentality of the Cold War, the side who has the last man standing is declared the winner. Also, unlike contemporary movies, these two, big computing hulks do not become "self-aware" in any human sense. Nor do they go beyond the level of their individual programming. They are making decisions that they have been taught will make for a better world. There are no, "Forbin as father and Colossus as son" overtones here like those in "I-Robot." If anything, Colossus becomes the authoritarian father-figure -- as in "I know what is best for you" -- perhaps mirroring Forbin's real father. This authoritarian father complex is what drives the computer's decisions. It does not take a great leap of consciousness for Colossus/Guardian to know that threats alone do not work with children. There has to be logical consequences for their misbehavior also -- which are horrible to even think about in the human mind, but in the computer mind, it is "Necessary" for the good of all concerned. How many human leaders/despots have followed that logic? Too many to count.

Somewhat forgotten computer movie which has aired on AMC and more recently on the sci-fi channel. Don't view it by todays computer technology standards however. The basis of the story is still there and not all that dated. The United States develops a computer that will handle all it's nuclear missiles and eliminate the accident factor in triggering a nuclear war. The Soviets unbeknownst to the US of A have done the same. The two computers find each other join forces and.... well watch and see! Dr. Charles Forbin played well by Eric Braeden is the brainchild of the American version of this really big PC. Susan Clark is also cast as an attractive female Computer Geek and a little suggestive sex is tossed in for what appears to be GP. A pre Happy Days Marion Ross is included in the cast as one of Forbins assistants. Watch this film for the suspense thriller ala Twilight Zone type picture it is and forget about the antiquated computer technology that it contains and you'll see what a good thinking persons flick it is.

I felt compelled to write about "Colossus: the Forbin Project" as it is still on my mind. I had a somewhat strange reaction to it. I can't remember the last time I was actually frightened by a film in the same way that I was frightened by this one. Typically, my fear response only kicks in when I see a potent image thrust at me quickly or when a movie uses unusual, eerie sounds to induce anxiety. Most films tend to frighten people by this primitive jack-in-the-box method. But the fear "Colossus: the Forbin Project" gave me is the same fear I experienced after reading Orwell's "1984". It's the fear of being taken over. Of losing personal freedom. As the Colossus computer's demands and actions grow and become all-encompassing the audience's reactions seem to mirror the Forbin character's reactions. To watch him slowly crumble in the face of what he has created is frightening because he seems so implacable for most of the movie. We put our faith in him because he reacts to each twist in the plot with a knowing smile. This is a film that gets under the skin in a big way. You have to think, after watching it: is this the way it happens? someone with good intentions doesn't realize the full extent of what he's created (whatever it may be) and it simply blossoms out of his control. A disturbing and important film.

This a great "Golden Turkey" class movie that is a barrel of laughs. It's so outlandishly ridiculous I'm surprised the Mystery Science Theater folks didn't pan it. Where can I begin? Scientists flip the switch on a monster computer for national defense, and then celebrate by getting drunk, smoking and playing pool while the computer unsuspectingly starts playing God and launches a nuke for attention. Who does it think it is? Bill Gates? In the film's pre-microprocessor Cold War world, the shopping mall sized computer sits inside the equivalent of the Air Force's former command center in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. The big ass computer apparently has squirreled away a lifetime supply of Energizer batteries because apparently no one can pull the plug on it, or at least stop paying its monthly electric bills. The idea that this Radio Shack on steroids is protected by gamma-radiation is utterly ridiculous since radiation destroys electronic circuits,duh! When "Colossus" starts talking to its Soviet mega-computer counterpart I half expected them to trade barbs like: "Aww your mother blows fuses!" or, "my RAM's bigger than yours!"Instead they hit it off like two college kids on an Internet social page. Imagine the website: "My Interface." The screenplay shamelessly steals from Dr. Strangelove's "Doomesday Machine" the 2001 Space Odyssey's disgruntled HAL 9000 chess-playing mainframe, and several Star Trek and Twilight Zone episodes. The idea of the omnipotent supercomputer is a tired and very dated old cliché. Today you've got dozens of computers in all your home appliances. None of then tells you to go to bed, as that control-freak Colossus did to its inventor, Dr. Forbin. If technology ever careens out of control and destroys humanity, it will be at the hands of nanobots or something seemingly even more innocuous. I do give the movie credit for good pacing, editing and suspense. That is, up until the scene where that sneaky voyeur Colossus has the mother-of-all webcams installed in Dr. Forbin's bachelor pad. What a clumsy contrivance to squeeze a little quickie romance and nudity into the script. I expected the mega-computer to ask Dr. Forbin, "Do you smoke after Binary Input/Output?" At this point the film gets sillier than a Monty Python skit. The ending is horribly unsatisfactory. It hits you as abruptly as a circuit breaker tripping while you're firing up the Xmas lights. I guess "Colossus" was a bit less than colossal at the box office, and so the producers couldn't scrape up cash for a sequel, which in this case is sorely needed. A computer taking over the world? Get serious. My worst apprehension is seeing Microsoft's dancing paper clip pop up on the computer screen.

It's interesting reading the comments of those who dislike this movie; they either call it "dated" and so disregard it, or "ludicrous" in that it could never happen; that way they don't have to take the concept seriously and so aren't threatened by it. Well, History is dated. That's why it's history. And we learn history supposedly so that we won't repeat the mistakes of the past (I wonder if that's ever worked?). Science Fiction, if done well, is like watching future history. Star Wars begins with "Long, Long Ago..." and yet the world it presented was thousands of years ahead of ours. Science Fiction's best use is often in producing cautionary tales so that "We Don't Go There", or at least make us think before we do. Yes, the idea of a computer taking over the world through control of nuclear technology is ludicrous; very ludicrous. Until it happens. Then it is already too late. That's the point of science fiction and other cautionary tales. So Collosus is about a dated computer that becomes sentient and starts asserting ruthless control for what it sees as the "betterment of mankind". What does it matter if the technology is dated? Our technology will seem hopelessly dated 100 years from now. This movie is very much like Terry Gilliam's dark movie, "Brazil", in a strange way. Gilliam has said his movie was a cautionary tale, that the only escape from the world is in your imagination. Both movies make the same point: that if a certain process (government, or technological) is allowed to continue without safeguards, we will reach a point where there is no escape. The time of quaint tales of Robin Hood and other rebels has passed: No "rebel band" is going to stop it, no revolution is going to succeed, because the stranglehold granted by modern weapons is so pervasive we can't fight it without dying. So instead of relying on comicbook fantasies of "fighting the Power", we should make sure we never get to the point of no return. In this movie's case, the fatal error was trusting in technology to run itself, without understanding it or taking precautions to install safeguards of overriding its commands and shutting it down if necessary. In our country, if our government suddenly decided to become a dictatorship, there would be no revolution or rebellion. Our little handguns and rifles aren't going to match cluster bombs, missiles and chemical weapons. We're at the mercy of our leaders, and the chance for rebellion by force in countries around the world (such as Zimbabwe) has past. The cautionary tale that Collosus tells is very old, and considered dated and clichéd by many. And because of that, its lesson is lost on those too "clever" to learn from it. Let's hope these people too clever to learn from dated clichés don't come into positions governing things like Collosus.

"Colossus: The Forbin Project" integrates two familiar themes--a Cold War "Doomsday" scenario, and computers that run amok--to produce a truly engrossing thriller. In a top-secret Pentagon project, American computer scientist Dr. Charles Forbin builds a great supercomputer, "Colossus," to control America's entire nuclear forces automatically. The Soviets soon follow with their own supercomputer, "Guardian," to control their own forces. "Colossus" then stuns Forbin by issuing a "request" to set up communication with "Guardian," perhaps to learn more about it. And that's when Dr. Forbin makes his fatal mistake. His scientific curiosity and love for his "child" overwhelms him too, and he gets the President to approve the communication. Colossus and Guardian begin communicating, soon exchanging data in a new language of their own devising that no human being can understand. Fearing what may be happening, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. attempt to break the communication link. But Colossus and Guardian react by launching nuclear missiles at various targets to force the humans to keep the link open--and to do whatever else they command. It becomes clear that the two computers are now conspiring with each other--against the rest of humanity. The rest of the movie is a fascinating battle of wits between the human designers of the machines, who must now try to find a way to defeat machines they had just spent ten years making invincible, and the Colossus-Guardian computers with their own rapidly developing plans for the future of humankind. The moral of this movie makes an interesting contrast with the moral of "Forbidden Planet." "Forbidden Planet" showed that no matter how advanced our civilization gets technologically, we can't escape the "monsters" buried deeply in the baser instincts of our subconscious. "Colossus" showed that we can't escape hubris or "Murphy's Law" either.

This film is on my list of the 10 best under-rated films of all time. Most horror films leave me cold, but this film is flat out scary. Yes, I know the technology is out of date, but other than 2001: A Space Odyssey, what sci-fi film is not? The film is very intelligent. It allows the audience to discover things, rather than hit them over the head. Its scares come from thinking about what is being presented, not cheap shocks. That is not to say there are not shocking moments. When the scientists are executed, the shock and revulsion the other characters feel is palpable. The character of Colossus is very well drawn. It thinks like a computer, not a movie villain. Requiring that the bodies of its victims be left on display, for example, shows the kind of cold, calculated thinking a machine would do. The film shows great subtlety in moments like the simple statement, "There is another system." It also does not resort to the obvious, such as a romance between Forbin and his assistant. The people are too busy for such nonsense. The last moments of the film, where the voice of World Control is intercut with the detonations of the warheads is gripping and powerful. The performance of Eric Braedon, especially when he realizes the computer has been two steps ahead of him the whole time, is outstanding. You can clearly see, though the film does not put it into words, that he feels the weight of every death his failures have caused. This is a powerful and frightening film. It is a must see for anyone interested in technology and its monstrous risks. On my baseball scale of movie ranking, I call this a three-run homer.