Colossus: the Forbin Project review

Remember the Cold War? I sure don't. But that era in world history spawned a multitude of topical films, television shows, and all sorts of other media. A great deal of it has endured to this day, reminding us of just how crazy countries with too many nukes can get (after they've had a few martinis). And on a similar (completely different) note, remember when computers were the size of buildings and ran on tapes? Yeah, me neither. But you'll find a healthy dose of both in 1970's Colossus: the Forbin Project, or as I like to call it, the WarGames before WarGames. Colossus concerns the launch of a new, highly advanced supercomputer named "Colossus," built for the purpose of defending America from its Communist foes. Things go quickly awry when Colossus detects a similar Russian supercomputer called "Guardian," and the two systems begin to interact with one another. Dr. Charles Forbin, (Eric Braeden) the creator of Colossus and his team attempt to sever the connection, but both computers respond with launching nuclear weapons. The situation worsens from there as both countries are held in the thrall of the combined Colossus-Guardian entity, forcing them to build security cameras for it to access and granting it more and more functions. Eventually, Colossus assumes dominion over essentially the entire world, as it states clearly in its initial address to the people of the world: "This is the voice of World Control." The film is deeply rooted in its Cold War environment, and the sight of tiny dots on a radar screen approaching their targets is truly chilling for the characters and the audience. The human element of the film is well-developed and realistic, in stark contrast to the cold, impersonal menace of Colossus which looms over every scene, it's "eyes" and "voice" permeating every structure like a computerized Big Brother. The scenery is both larger-than-life and all-too familiar, and the dialogue is rendered almost too realistically, sentences are interrupted and relatively simple adjectives are used to give a feeling of verisimilitude which complements the film nicely, yet some lines manage to fall flat, and the ending is abrupt and leaves the viewer wanting more. All in all, Colossus is a solid example of Cold War-era science fiction, and a capable statement on the dangers of the technological singularity.