Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) is a science fiction film based upon the 1966 novel Colossus, by Dennis Feltham Jones, about a massive, eponymous American defense computer becoming sentient and deciding to assume control of the world.[1]
Imagine Entertainment and Universal Studios confirmed that a remake titled Colossus, to be directed by Ron Howard, would be in production as of April 2007[2], but seems to have ended up in development hell.
Plot
Dr. Charles A. Forbin is the chief designer of a secret government project. He and his team have built a gigantic and fantastically advanced supercomputer, called "Colossus", to control all of the United States and Allied nuclear weapons systems.
Colossus is built to be impervious to any attack, encased within a mountain and powered by its own nuclear reactor. When it is activated, the President of the United States announces its existence, proudly proclaiming it a perfect defense system that will ensure peace.
Almost immediately after the broadcast ends, Colossus displays a cryptic warning: "There is another system."
It is revealed that Colossus is referring to a Soviet project very similar to Colossus; a supercomputer called "Guardian" that controls Soviet nuclear weapons. Both computers promptly demand a link to allow them to communicate with one another.
Such a link is set up, whereupon the computers exchange messages of simple mathematics. Scientists and officials of both sides monitor the activity on video screens. The communications become increasingly complex, eventually extending into a math formerly unknown to mankind. Then the two machines begin communicating in a binary language that the scientists can't interpret.
This alarms the President and the leader of the Soviet Union, who agree to disconnect the link. Colossus and Guardian insist that the link be restored or "action will be taken." When this threat is ignored, Colossus and Guardian each launch a nuclear missile.
The U.S. and U.S.S.R. quickly restore the link. Colossus successfully intercepts the Soviet missile before it strikes. However, the link is restored too late for the American missile to be stopped, and a Soviet oil complex and neighboring town are destroyed.
All that the scientists and officials can then do is watch helplessly as the two computers exchange information without limitation. The computers soon announce they have joined forces to become a single, even more powerful computer, taking the name Unity.
Working by direct personal contact, the scientists and governments attempt to fight back, first by attempting to overload the computers. This attempt fails and Colossus identifies the individuals responsible, ordering their immediate executions.
Realizing that the computers were themselves impervious to attack (as originally intended), the governments undertake a plan to covertly disarm the nuclear missiles, one by one — a process which, using the normal maintenance and servicing schedules, will take three years. Unfortunately for them, Colossus detects this plot and responds by detonating two missiles in their silos.
In the end, Colossus broadcasts a speech to all countries, declaring itself the ruler of the world. Under its authority, war will be abolished and problems such as famine, disease and overpopulation will be solved. "The human millennium will be a fact."
In a final remark, addressed to Dr. Forbin, the all-powerful Colossus predicts: "In time, you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love." Dr. Forbin replies: "Never."
Cast
Critical reception
When the film was released, Vincent Canby, film critic for The New York Times, gave the film a positive review, writing, "Early in The Forbin Project, Colossus, a supercomputer that controls the United States's military defense system, goes into an unprogrammed rage and launches a missile toward the Soviet Union. The President of the United States turns to Forbin, the man who invented Colossus, and gives him a petulant look that seems to say: 'There goes the stock market . . . . the urban vote . . . . my golf game . . . .my image. You've made a fool out of me.' It's one of the appealing things about The Forbin Project, an unpretentious science fiction film with a satiric point of view, that when the world is about to blow up, the President of the United States can only bring to the occasion something akin to embarrassment. The film ...is no Dr. Strangelove, but it's full of surprising moments of humor and intelligence, a practically perfect movie to see when you want to go to a movie and have nothing special in mind."[3]
Awards
Wins
Nominations
Locations
The exterior scenes of the Colossus control center were filmed at the Lawrence Hall of Science museum at the University of California, Berkeley.
See also
Notes
External links
