Brainstorm - 1983
December 12, 2007 - 3:05 am - Posted by Administrator
I think I saw this movie for the first time on HBO years ago. Back when you had to get up off your ass, walk to the TV, and flip a switch on a little gold/woodgrain box to descramble the HBO signal.
I was too young to understand the concept of Virtual Reality, and most of us were unfamiliar with the concept anyway. But this is the first time I ever saw the concept depicted onscreen. Movies like Strange Days, the Thirteenth Floor, and The Matrix owe a heavy debt to this early shot at cyber-cinema.
In the near future, scientists perfect the art of recording and playing back human experience. Not on a screen, but in your head. Experience what others have experienced. Don a device on your head, and play back the tape.
Brainstorm explores all the questions that such a technology would bring to light… what is moral in a “virtual world”? Who should have access to such technology? It’s an interesting look back at what a screenwriter from the eighties envisioned virtual reality technology to be. They didn’t get it all right of course, but predicting the future ain’t easy.
When you watch, take note of the hints at future technology… like when Christopher Walken offers to pump some information “through the phone” in an era when a modem was unheard of.
This movie is also the final onscreen appearance of Natalie Wood. –troy
*** Three Stars
Posted in 1983, The Future, Three Star Rating, Virtual Reality | No Comments »
