Subservience Movie Review – The Megan Fox AI Thriller Titillates and Teases

Director S.K. Dale and Megan Fox combine their powers once again for Subservience, an AI-centered thriller that borrows a few elements (and plot threads) from movies such as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Fatal Attraction, and M3GAN. In this story penned by Will Honley and April Maguire, Fox stars as Alice – an artificial intelligent fembot assistant – who is bought by Nick (Michele Morrone) to help around the house and look after the children after his wife, Maggie (Madeline Zima), ends up in hospital.

At first, Alice appears to be a godsend, helping to fill the void left behind by Maggie’s absence and being able to operate without much intervention. However, she soon starts to make questionable decisions around the home, and gets a little too close with Nick, who is the only person she takes instruction from. Predictably, events spiral out of control once Maggie returns home and Alice oversteps her boundaries.

Subservience won’t win any awards for its story that telegraphs its every move and twist. From the moment Nick lays eyes on Alice, there’s not a doubt there’s an attraction between them. Much like any thriller where a housekeeper or babysitter starts a relationship with a  husband, it doesn’t end well and there’s hell to pay when one party calls it quits. That said, it’s fun to see how a sentient fembot like Alice takes the news and reacts here. Let’s just say her wrath is reminiscent of M3GAN’s.

The film’s drama picks up once Maggie arrives home, which is around the halfway mark in Subservience. It creates a new dynamic as Maggie displays open hostility toward Alice, who has tried to take her place in the family. From there, the action steps up a notch as Alice channels the spirit of her cousin, the T-1000, and becomes dangerous.

Subservience excels when it leans into the erotic thriller genre and the simmering sexual tension between Nick and Alice. It’s steamy as the will-he-or-won’t-he-cave-in question lingers and the pair taunt and tether each other. Then, there’s the guilt aspect of the equation and whether or not Nick feels remorse for his actions while his wife lies in hospital.

However, the film loses its impact and appeal when it ventures deep into the philosophical sci-fi territory and attempts to answer too many questions about AI’s impact on society as a whole. There’s an entire subplot about Nick’s co-workers losing their job to the machines that feels unnecessary where this story should have focused only on AI’s influence on relationships – especially with all the news about companies building AI partners. Subservience could have been a more powerful movie had it looked at what happens when people form bonds with AI rather than other humans.

Performance-wise, Megan Fox appears like she’s having the time of her life playing Alice on screen. Her movements remind the audience she’s an android – not human – but there’s a glint of deviousness in her eyes from the moment everyone meets the character. By the time Alice is fully unleashed, Fox looks to be in the zone and having fun with the part.

Although she has limited screen time in the first half of the film, Madeline Zima’s Maggie proves to be Alice’s biggest thorn in the end. Maggie isn’t prepared to lose her life to Alice, and she fights back, even though she’s recovering from a life-changing surgery and having to deal with the fact her husband is a scumbag.

Speaking of which, Michele Morrone’s Nick provides an interesting conundrum. If any rational person zooms out and looks at this story from a bigger picture point-of-view, he’s technically the bad guy here. His morals appear flexible, his self-control is nonexistent, and he kickstarts all this mess because he can’t look after two kids while his wife is in hospital. Did Maggie take care of everything before and Nick contributed nothing to the house? If this is the case, phew! Maybe Maggie should have let Alice keep him.

Subservience isn’t about to become the next Terminator movie or M3GAN, nor does it answer any pertinent questions about AI, but it’s a shlocky good time that would absolutely do the numbers on a streaming service. Don’t be too shocked if this becomes a cult classic in Megan Fox’s filmography in the near future.

Subservience
Follows a struggling father who purchases a domestic SIM to help care for his house and family, unaware she will gain awareness and turn deadly.

	Studio: Millennium Media, Grobman Films, XYZ Films
	Running Time: N/A
	Release Date: September 13, 2024
	Cast: Megan Fox, Michele Morrone, Madeline Zima, Matilda Firth
	Director: S.K. Dale
	Writers: Will Honley, April Maguire
	Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, AI
	Box Office: N/A