A.X.L.


A.X.L. is a 2018 American science fiction adventure film written and directed by Oliver Daly and starring Alex Neustaedter, Becky G, Alex MacNicoll, Dominic Rains, and Thomas Jane. It tells the story of a teenage boy who encounters a robotic dog created from cutting edge military technology. It was released in the United States on August 24, 2018, by Global Road Entertainment, received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, and was a box office flop, grossing only $8.5 million against its $10 million budget.

Plot

A-X-L is a top-secret, robotic dog created by Andric, a Craine Systems scientist, to help protect tomorrow's soldiers. A-X-L is wanted by the military, who knows it can be dangerous technology and used for the wrong purposes. Code-named by the Craine Systems scientists who created him, A-X-L embodies the most advanced next-generation artificial intelligence. After an experiment gone wrong, A-X-L is discovered hiding alone and damaged in the desert by a kind-hearted outsider named Miles Hill who finds a way to connect with him after activating his owner-pairing technology. Helping Miles gain the confidence he's been lacking, A-X-L will go to any length to protect his new companion, including facing off against the scientists who created him and who will do anything to get him back. Knowing what is at stake if A-X-L is captured, Miles teams up with a smart, resourceful ally named Sara Reyes to protect his new best friend.
Miles and Sara go back to Miles' home, and tell his father, Chuck, about A-X-L, but Chuck tells them to return A-X-L to its owners. At the same time, Sam returns with his crew and burns A-X-L with his flamethrower. Sara sees the live recording on her phone and Miles and Sara both take off to save A-X-L, but are too late. However, A-X-L gives them a location to go to repair him. Meanwhile, a man sent by Andric shows up at the house and demands that Chuck reveal the location of the device that controls A-X-L. Chuck, growing suspicious, manages to trick the man, and demands him to answer his questions. The Agent reveals he is looking for A-X-L.
Miles and Sara take A-X-L to a garage for repairs and it automatically repairs itself for 2.5 hours. However, Andric gets a log on its location and sends his team to retrieve it. The Agents arrive and try to retrieve A-X-L while it's still repairing. When it comes online, it remembers its last memories of Sam burning him with a flamethrower. A-X-L runs out to go and kill Sam, with Miles and Sara rushing to stop it. Sam and his friends are throwing a party when A-X-L arrives to get revenge. Sam tries again to burn him with a flamethrower until the fuel runs out, but Miles and Sara arrive and convince A-X-L not to kill Sam. Drones arrive and disable A-X-L; Miles and Sara are captured and brought to Andric and he tries to override Miles' control of A-X-L, but fails.
When Miles refuses to tell him where the remote is, Andric programs A-X-L to attack Sara. Sara is able to convince A-X-L not to attack her by motioning how she drew the feather she drew at the old ruins. Andric tries to escape when Captain Webber shows up, but he is arrested and realizes that Berman contacted Webber and reported him. Knowing they are surrounded and they still want A-X-L, Sara allows herself to be captured, while Miles and A-X-L escape, but they are pursued by a helicopter. They ride up a mountain until they fall, knowing Miles can't keep him, he orders A-X-L to run. A-X-L obeys and tries to get as far away as possible to self-destruct whilst uploading in the web all the memories A-X-L, Miles and Sara had together. After uploading, A-X-L looks at Miles in the eyes for the last time, messaging him "good bye". He then finishes the self-destruct sequence, leaving Miles to be subdued by the military.
Six weeks later, Andric is arrested for violating national security and endangering the lives of civilians; he is visited by Webber who informs him that A-X-L's code has resurfaced, and wants to know what it is doing.
Sara and Miles have gone off to college via the scholarships provided by the military – to buy their silence and to keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, Sara and Miles spend the day at the beach hanging out, studying, and playing with their new puppy, when Sara gives him an envelope. Miles opens it and pulls out a short note from his dad. Miles reads it then flips the envelope upside down and the remote to A-X-L falls out into his hand. Miles asks Sara if he should try and activate it. The pairing device does and the A.X.L. OS is uploading itself back on their phones. They realize that A-X-L is alive, survived somehow, and might be returning to them.

Cast

A-X-L is based on the proof-of-concept short film Miles by writer/director Oliver Daly. The short film was funded via Kickstarter campaign that began in 2014, with 190 backers. According to the campaign, the short film is a "movie about blurring the boundaries between humanity and technology, set in the off-roading world of Central California."
Production began in 2015 when writer/director Oliver Daly began reworking his short film Miles into a feature-length film. David S. Goyer joined the project as producer through his Phantom Four banner alongside Kevin Turen. Lakeshore Entertainment joined Phantom Four to produce the film, which began principal photography in 2016. Global Road Entertainment joined Lakeshore Entertainment to co-produce and co-finance the project.
In August 2016, singer Becky G announced that she would be joining the cast as "Sara". Actor Alex MacNicoll was cast in the film in October 2016, joining Alex Neustaedter.
The film was released despite its financing and production company Global Road Entertainment being taken over by its lenders.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, A.X.L. was released on August 24, 2018 alongside The Happytime Murders, and was projected to gross around $5 million from 1,710 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $2.9 million, finishing ninth at the box office. The film made a total of $8.5 million worldwide.

Critical response

The film received largely negative reviews from critics, with criticisms aimed at its derivative nature. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 3.54/10. The site's critics' consensus reads, "Clumsily recalling numerous superior movies about unlikely human/robot friendships, A.X.L. is an obsolete adventure made from frequently malfunctioning parts." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 59% overall positive score.
Katie Rife of The A.V. Club described the film as "utterly forgettable", not believing that anyone would "want to watch utterly generic, sloppily conceived film badly enough to see it in theaters".