The Fall seems like a film designed to prove why script supervisors exist. The thing is, while all of the AI-induced errors are distracting, they’re also the most entertaining part of the movie.

There isn’t really much to distract from in The Fall because it is so dull. Because current AI models are really only capable of generating scenes that last a few seconds, the movie feels like a disjointed collection of moments from the odyssey that have been stitched together with little rhyme or reason.

If you didn’t already know the story going into this, I don’t think you’d have any idea of what was going on, because the film explains very little. You don’t even learn about Penelope’s suitors until the movie is almost over.

I also can’t think of a single aspect of The Fall that feels improved because of AI. The “acting” is bafflingly bad, with characters pausing for seconds at a time for no apparent reason and bursts of laughter that jolt you out of nowhere.

There’s no weight to the action, as if this takes place in a world where things like physics and gravity are suggestions rather than constants. Similarly, there aren’t any cool or impressive effects that wouldn’t be possible without the technology.

The monsters look like shabby stop-motion creatures from the 1930s, which is all the weirder when they’re put beside the smooth, hyperreal human characters that AI spews out. It’s not just jarring, it’s boring and ugly.

Koosha claims that he adapted this story because he “always felt passionately about Homer’s epic tale since [he] originally read it years ago.” It seems much more likely that he’s trying to skate by on the hype and energy created by Nolan’s film, turning AI slop into a modern-day iteration of direct-to-video cash grabs.

But this also puts the film at an incredible disadvantage from the very beginning, inviting comparisons to one of the most critically and commercially successful movies of the last few years, one that was especially beloved because of the director’s insistence on human craftsmanship. Nolan is someone who cares deeply about film, and his passion and enthusiasm is why stars want to work with him and viewers flock the theaters to see his movies.

The existence of The Fall, meanwhile, shows utter contempt for the medium, attempting to boil the work of hundreds of skilled workers into slop produced by a tiny team. It’s so terrible it’ll make you appreciate human-made art all the more.

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