Film critics have panned a seven-minute AI film based on the story of the Odyssey. The film was made with Elon Musk’s Grok Imagine system, Stuff South Africa reported.
The film is the first episode of what is planned to be a full-length feature. A post sharing the film credited a creative collaboration with WonderStudiosX and director Dev Walker.
Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw said the film had an “uncanny-valley stock-footage quality”. The Telegraph called it “sloppy gruesomeness”.
Rolling Stone said viewers found the acting “soulless” and “wooden”. The report said critics found the story unmoving and without clear motive or meaning.
Some reviewers were milder and found brief moments that worked. TechCrunch said “a few individual shots might provide a reasonable simulacrum of reality”.
Paulo Vargas of Digital Trends wrote that some of the best shots have no actors in them. He said that “for a few seconds, the illusion holds”. He added that it falls apart when “the people begin to move, and worse, they start speaking”.
The episode tells of a father who pretends to be mad so he can stay with his family and avoid war. When his son’s life is in danger, he must reveal the truth and leave for war.
The report said AI systems build scenes by using learnt patterns to work out which image is likely to come next. These images can be detailed. It pointed to sunlight on bronze breastplates and dirt flying behind an ox in the Grok film.
According to the report, a still view or a short close-up might look fine. Once people start to move, AI video tools struggle to keep things consistent from shot to shot. It said this leaves viewers with jarring cuts and characters that look like plastic.
The report also said AI struggles to show emotion in a natural way. It can make tears, facial expressions and gestures when asked. But people may smile while nervous or stay silent when upset, and small errors in these faces feel eerie to viewers.
It compared this to unplanned moments in human films. In Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams made up a story about his late wife on the spot. Matt Damon’s laughter was real, and the filmmakers kept the scene.
The report said AI can also produce striking surprises, such as a strange shaft of light or a dramatic low camera angle. It said an algorithm cannot tell whether such a shot helps or ruins a scene, because it has no idea of human grief or love.
The report said people are biased against artworks when they know AI made them. It added that people sometimes prefer AI-made images to human-made ones when they are not told where the images came from.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Stuff South Africa. Image: Stuff South Africa. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.