The latest project from Nanoflix Productions is a full-length feature film that uses the AG Engine, the latest in a computerized animation process, widely called Machinima, to bring to life what has been hailed as a film-noir-esque, science fiction. This “future-noir” mystery, set on, and in, a lonely asteroid in deep space, weaves a tense tale and stars self-aware (artificially intelligent) robots. They mine the ice the asteroid is made of and convert it to hydrogen and oxygen to refuel ships that stop at the outpost. The movie is a unique project that shows so much promise, with top quality voice work (voice direction by Jackie Turnure) and a Vangelis-style soundtrack (composed by Phillip Johnston), but, as a whole, tends to fall short in too many ways.The opening credits roll over mundane visuals of a spacecraft making initial landing procedures (possibly an obscure nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey) and activating the lone robot attached to it’s underside. Quickly it becomes apparent that the graphics are not the glitzy, well polished animation that people have become accustomed to in recent cinematic projects. Think slightly pre-Tron, if you will. The story gets into a dark, film noir feel from the very first lines with the slightly monotone but gritty voice of Chris Jones (voice of the popular Tex Murphy, from the computer games of the same name), as Pi the investigator, dictating events and thoughts to his non-sentient assistant, Com Bot Beta. Pi establishes himself as the wary and intelligent representative of the ominous and ambiguous “Company.” After accessing the facility and reviving Kieru (voiced by Claudia Black from Stargate SG-1 and Farscape), the director of the outpost, Pi quickly learns that information is hard to find when there’s no trust to be found anywhere.
