Archive (2020)

In 2049, George Almore (Theo James) is working on a true human-equivalent AI, and his latest prototype is almost ready. This sensitive phase is also the riskiest as he has a goal that must be hidden at all costs-being reunited with his dead wife Jules (Stacy Martin), who had died in a car accident years ago.

His wife's consciousness is stored in an archive device that, according to the sales pitch, will allow up to 200 hours of interaction with the deceased. The interactions take the form of phone calls from the device, which simulate an interaction with the deceased. His work also includes updates to a previously abandoned secure facility that appears to require numerous and significant upgrades to its sadly inadequate security system. The CAMS of the security system are being trained by George to pick up external intruders and raise alarms. George works alone at the facility with his robots. His work is aided by his second prototype, J2 (Timea Maday Kinga). Simone (Rhona Mitra) is VP of Internal Development at Artisan Robotics, George's employer. George has only ever revealed J1 to Simone and has managed to keep J2 hidden. George has kept the latest 3rd prototype hidden from even his own robots. Almore is visited by a small team (Vincent Sinclair (Toby Jones), an executive of the Archive company & Melvin (Richard Glover), an associate of Vincent Sinclair) from Archive who perform an inspection of the consciousness device. George says that he can't call her, but only she can call him. The line is clear but getting weaker. They note that the security seal is broken (suggesting that George downloaded his wife's consciousness for his own purposes) and threaten legal action (along with removing the unit for decommissioning), however, Almore points out that they are on his company's property and hints at the legal repercussions of a confrontation and the Archive team backs off and leaves. J2 is shown to be quite sophisticated, but as Almore reveals, it/she has only developed the brain of a 16-year-old and is incapable of developing any further. J2 is aware of Almore's work on a third prototype and appears to have become jealous (she knows J3 is better than J2, just as J2 is better than J1), which leads to J2's increasingly unpredictable behavior. J2 tries to sabotage the security system, which diverts George's time and slows him down. Simone sends Mr. Tagg (Peter Ferdinando) to meet George to do a risk assessment of his facility. Tagg tells George that 2 of Artisan's facilities have been recently attacked and all their research stolen. Hence the audit and the precautions being taken. Tagg also tells George that he is under surveillance due to his efforts to revive Jules. George is confused as to how Tagg knows about his research, given how much secrecy he has maintained. Meanwhile, the J3 (Stacy Martin) android is ready and begins to move and interact with completely human mannerisms, responses and emotions. George introduces J3 to J1 and J2. George has dreams about his last drive with Jules, where he told her how his research was approved. 3 yrs, at Yamanashi in Japan, a mothballed facility in the middle of the forest (where he is working currently). Previously, George had extracted and stored his own and Jules's consciousness with Archive, without Jules's consent. Jules was pretty upset thinking about living her life in a box, after she was dead. J2 simulates a break in of the facility, and steals the J3 prototype, prompting George to launch an all-out search outside the facility. He eventually finds her hidden in the storage vault of the facility. J3 has figured out that George means to replace her consciousness with Jules and is angered. George tells J3 that he extracted Jules's consciousness from the Archive machine and put it into a pattern recognition software. He then started to build a physical prototype starting with J1. Almore gets a call from his boss who implies that he may be in trouble for his actions during the Archive team's visit. Archive team believes that George's robots are based on their technology and thus infringing their patents. He assures her that she has nothing to worry about. George finishes the development of J3 into a likeness of Jules. The memory of Jules is downloaded into her, and he is still testing J3 and its stability. But he has not yet downloaded Jules's consciousness into J3. J3 tries to have sex with George, but he pushes her away. J3 says she remembers the crash and that Jules was pregnant. J2, confronted with the realization that she will never be anything more or better than she already is, destroys herself by walking into a lake. The J2 is eventually retrieved by the Archive company, who uses it to launch legal action against George. This eventually prompts another call from Simone with an indication that a team is on the way to shut down his research. Almore makes the final call to his wife on the Archive machine, and ends the call saying, "see you soon. " J3 overhears this and realizes her purpose, and that her own consciousness will be over