Movie Review: Implanted

credit: Implanted

The amount of dependence that people place on technology is kind of scary when one really stops to think about it, but there’s still that thought that we could unplug if we really wanted to, at least from such things as social media and other applications that technology has been used to improve over the years. But the truth is that our reliance upon technology is so great at this point that one can’t really unplug entirely unless they’re ready to go back to a life when technology was limited to what could be manipulated and made to work by dint of humanity’s own sweat and blood, so to speak.

So when Sarah agrees to undergo a procedure that allows an AI device to be implanted into her body as part of an experimental, health-related process, it’s easy to think that she’s taking her own life into her hands and willingly giving it over to a program that was designed to help monitor her health but ends up dominating her in ways that are undeniably horrifying. 

credit: Implanted

This movie would certainly make a person think twice about trusting their health to anything that requires an implant or anything that monitors their health. 

These days a lot of what goes on in the lives of others is handled from a medical perspective and is monitored constantly. If there is anything such as the device that Sarah has implanted, then it’s nothing that’s been revealed to the general public in this world, as Fitbits and other measures are still considered to be some of the more updated versions of how to measure one’s health.

But in this movie, the implant becomes a serious issue as it not only starts to take over her life but eventually starts telling her what to do. If that wasn’t bad enough, the device begins to demand that she not see her mother, that she perform illegal actions that Sarah tries to rebel against, and in time it demands that she kill the people who are involved with the experiment. 

Sarah’s predicament is her choice, but it’s still hard to blame her for everything that happens. 

The fact is that Sarah was hurting for money and needed something to make her life a little better, but there was no way to predict what was going to happen since the experiment was supposed to be about monitoring the health of the participants, not dominating them completely. However it happened, though, the AI that was implanted into so many people willing to get a payday and trade their health for a bit of green ended up being driven insane and were forced to murder others or were killed as punishment.

Sarah’s own predicament sees her trying to save her mother from the murderous AI that keeps punishing her for daring to disobey while trying to keep from being caught. Her existence becomes a hellish one as she continues to disobey, only to then acquiesce to the program as she kills one individual after another in order to keep the program from being eliminated or otherwise altered. 

credit: Implanted

The movie feels like it could have ended much sooner. 

There are a lot of moments in this movie that make it feel as though it could have been over and done with much sooner than it was, especially since there is the idea that Sarah could have made the program think twice, given that if she died, the program would become useless and therefore expire as well. But that thought apparently never comes up in this movie since Sarah is kept on her toes and on edge most of the time as she tries to avoid the pain that the program is capable of dishing out so readily.

On top of that, she’s attempting to keep her mother safe, as it’s not certain how the program might be able to kill her mother, but the threat is continually there as the program uses it like a poisoned carrot to keep her going. But by the time the movie ends, it feels as though it’s lasted way too long. 

Casting the blame on the programmers feels accurate, but killing them is kind of short-sighted. 

The whole idea of casting the blame for the program on the programmers is a smart idea since these people did manage to create something that’s faulty and capable of doing great harm, but at the same time, it feels as though simply executing them was far less than they deserved since another form of punishment might have been far better.

The idea of killing those who have done wrong doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, but finding ways to make those who do things without regard for others is even harder to sell since torture of any type is abhorrent, even if it’s been earned.