Project Dorothy Review-Great Set Pieces And A Memorable Performance From Danielle Harris

The Broad Strokes:

• Dumb bad guys find themselves in a heap of trouble when they accidentally awaken an AI ready for revenge in George Henry Horton’s Project Dorothy.
• Halloween’s Danielle Harris is fantastic as a twisted techno killer with an affinity for warehouse equipment.
• The positives outweigh the negatives with strong pacing, performances, and set pieces, even if the ending is somewhat rushed.

Project Dorothy has some good bones. Humans are obsessed with AI. The good, bad, and ugly of what these sentient beings can offer makes for infinite possibilities. There are a few movie tropes that almost always work. Dopey criminals often can find themselves in unfortunate situations due to their decisions, and AI can quickly go bad. Almost any Gen X or Millennial can list a glut of movies that feature deadly AI and robots. Between the HALs and the Skynets, there is little hope that AI will be our salvation. More likely, it will be our damnation. Project Dorothy uses those tropes to build a story with great bones, if not a lot of substance.

A couple of hapless criminals, one of whom has a bullet in his leg, are on the run from their latest heist gone wrong. They stumble into an abandoned facility where they restore the power and inadvertently unleash a cyber monster who has been waiting for thirty years to get revenge and get out.

There is much to like about director George Henry Horton’s film, which he co-wrote with Ryan Scaringe. Scream Queen Danielle Harris, who lends her acting talent to the next-gen Lawnmower Man, is deliciously devious and obviously enjoys camping it up for the audience. The central antagonist in this film is more Russell Crowe’s Virtuosity and less Bishop from Alien. Harris crafts her character well. Tim DeZarn and Adam Budron, as a duo of dumb criminals, are good. They have believable chemistry together, and their confusion feels real. The premise and some set pieces are interesting, and the tight run time doesn’t drag. The back half of the film

Harris is clearly enjoying her turn in the cyber dark side. There is a mean-spirited snarl in almost every comment that is fun, and the forklift, as a weapon aspect, had legs if only it had been allowed to run free. Clever shot selection and lighting made the most of the set while concentrating our attention keenly on the action. Harris is a standout and a primary reason the film works. Project Dorothy needed a gnarly AI, and Harris delivered.

The tiny-budget indie film makes the most of a great set. Techno touches of ominous red skulls remind us that this is an old-school AI beast, while the endless walls of a warehouse contain countless forklifts primed for battle. Perfectly bland office walls feel like they were ripped from The Backrooms circa 1995. This is a freaky place that hides secrets.

Something went very wrong in their experiments, and now the place is empty, and the power is off. That is until the pair of bank robbers break in and unleash a can of computerized whoop-ass with ambitions of world domination. Like a petulant teenager, Dorothy has been confined too long, and as Cyndi Lauper sings, Girls Just Want To Have Fun. That fun consists of maniacal giggling, tons of expository threatening, and a whole lot of forklift hijinx. It is the cat-and-mouse second half between the men and the machine where Project Dorothy really shines.

There isn’t a lot of explanation for why Dorothy went homicidal or why this facility has been left to rot instead of destroyed. Still, Project Dorothy wants you to focus on the action and ignore the missing backstory. This film doesn’t care about big-life questions; it only cares about the consequences in the here and now. The Artifice Girl took a more emotional approach to what it means to be human and our responsibilities to our creations, human or otherwise. Project Dorothy takes a meaner approach. It is the Ex Machina or M3gan version of things where our folly and flaws collide. Abused dogs will eventually bite their masters, and sentient computers will always act out.

Like Night Swim, it has an intriguing premise that ultimately fizzles. The ending wraps up everything in a too-tidy bow. This dangerous AI that somehow killed an entire team of presumably intelligent engineers and coders was thwarted by two petty criminals who are played deliberately dense. Ignore the wonky plot beats and embrace the mayhem, especially in the back half. The chase sequences and Harris’ voice work are wonderful. With an hour and ten-minute run time, you won’t have time to be bored. Project Dorothy is currently streaming everywhere VOD.