Artificial Movie Review: Feel the End of Time

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial is a modern epic dissecting ego, vanity and power in the tech world, anchored by the brilliant Yura Borisov and Andrew Garfield.

In Artificial, Guadagnino explores entirely new terrain as he unravels the tale of a technological giant, with the cadence other storytellers use to dissect ancient epics. His retelling of the rise of AI is meticulously crafted and expertly executed to show how one man’s idea of how to better the future spun out of his control due to the hubris and greed of many.

Artificial begins in 2003 at the University of Toronto, where a 17-year-old Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov, of Anora) is desperately trying to get involved with Professor Geoffrey Hinton’s  (Mark Rylance, of Bones and All) research into the full capabilities and mass implementation of artificial intelligence. Impressed by Ilya’s understanding of the wildly complex material and raw intuition about how to solve problems the research team had previously faced, Hinton takes Ilya under his wing and allows him to work in his lab. 

With the help of Ilya, who has an uncanny ability to foresee future issues and think beyond the scope of previously understood possibilities, Hinton’s artificial intelligence startup is bought for $44 million by Google. For the next few years, the two men build out the full capabilities of what artificial intelligence can achieve while tech giants Sam Altman (Andrew Garfield, of We Live in Time) and Elon Musk (Ike Barinholtz, of The Studio) loom over their progress. While Hinton is content with continuing at a cautious pace, Ilya becomes intoxicated with the possibilities of what their AI software is capable of. 

In the moment he feels the most discouraged that anyone will ever take his big ideas seriously, Altman slithers into Ilya’s life with a reptilian charm that makes Ilya feel not only vindicated, but valued for thinking beyond the scope of what anyone else believes is possible. After Altman convinces Ilya to leave Hinton’s research in order to start a company focused on using AI to help humanity, the two found the company OpenAI with a hefty investment from Elon Musk. 

However, as Ilya is able to prove the full power of the AI software the company is fostering, the possibilities of what this software can mean for humankind rapidly grow beyond any foreseen potential and become an entirely new beast. With the world at their fingertips, their company at the forefront of one of the greatest technological revolutions of all time and unbridled control over the product everyone wants to get their hands on, the founders of OpenAI and their company descend into a world overrun by greed, chaos and ego. 

In many ways, Artificial feels like a nouveau western. Far gone are the days of manifest destiny and unexplored land, and now that every physical frontier has been discovered, we must find new plains to unearth. Guadagnino’s film shows the story of a man who has reached the full limitations of the physical world and now must explore the depths of capability the technological one holds. 

While Ilya looks at the potential of AI and sees all the good it can do for the world and the people he cares about in it, others like Sam and Elon look at it and see all the money that can be milked out of it and the power that comes from holding the keys to the most advanced technology mankind has ever seen. Through the exploration of those two motivations, Guadagnino creates an almost biblical tale of optimism and greed and the tragic ways they intertwine. 

Artificial is a masterclass in intentional filmmaking that will be studied by film students in years to come. Every piece of the film fits into place to lend to its overarching message and purpose behind the story. From Jonathan Anderson’s remarkable costuming to Damon Albarn’s sweeping score and Stefano Baisi’s intricate production design, every member of Guadagnino’s creative ensemble delivers tenfold, giving an impressive dimensionality to Artificial.

Most notable are the film’s central performances by Yura Borisov and Andrew Garfield. Borisov’s Ilya skyrockets him into the realm of a Hollywood leading man as he brings both an optimistic vulnerability and remorseful need for atonement to his role that makes the film feel uniquely human for its focus being on the rise of technology. Garfield is operating in an entirely new class as Sam Altman, really picking up speed in the second half of the film to depict his chameleon-like ability to shift into whoever the person right in front of him wants him to be. 

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial is unlike any film he has created before, but stands as his most sobering view of humanity yet. Its depiction of how technology is equal parts desperately wanting to connect us as it is terrifyingly isolating us from one another is as poetic as it is tragic. Every hand touching the production is firing on all cylinders to create one of Guadagnino’s most ambitious stories to date and delivering audiences one of the best films of the year.

Artificial had its World Premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5, 2026. The film will be released in select U.S. theaters on December 25 and in UK and Irish cinemas on January 22, 2027.