TL;DR – A conceptually interesting film that just never quite coalesced in the way that it wanted.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film

A Million Days Review –

If there has been one major shift in technology in the 21^st century so far, it is the rise of predictive AI. While the whole world is trying to rectify this new landscape, Science Fiction media has been playing in that space for decades. Today, we explore a film that is all about AI and what it means for the future of humanity.

So, to set the scene, in 2041, after decades of unchecked global warming, Earth is on the cusp of complete ecological collapse. The SEED project, powered by an AI called JAY, was created to try and make humanity a multi-planet civilization. Anderson (Simon Merrells) and Sam (Kemi-Bo Jacobs) help run the JAY project as the Lunar Colony is being established. However, when one of the new hires, Charlie (Hermione Corfield), accidentally runs a JAY simulation for a million days, they discover that something is wrong with humanity and its survival.   

Overall, what I really liked was the concepts that the film was playing in. Quite often, we talk about humanity as a multi-planetary species. But what does that mean practically, and do we have enough time to pull that off? There are whispers of Isaac Asimov’s I Robot underpinning it all, as our characters discuss the role and power of AI and how it can seat itself in society. There is also a good discussion about the role of trust that we have with technology and if that should be a good thing. We also got some interesting factors, such as the AI using physical media to interact with humanity.

However, while conceptionally, I quite liked the film, when the rubber actually hit the road, I am not sure it quite all came together. It was clear that the film was working on a tiny budget, and they made every dollar work for them. But you could feel those constraints holding everything back. The intimacy of having everything happen in one location never jelled with the story they wanted to tell, and we ended up with more contrivances than anything else. Also, with such a dialogue-dependent film, you needed every word to matter, and we did not get there.

In the end, do we recommend A Million Days? While I don’t think it quite came together in the end, it was still a fascinating exploration of its themes. If you liked A Million Days, we would recommend to you Arrival.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched A Million Days?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of A Million Days
Directed by – Mitch Jenkins
Screenplay by – Michael Dobbin
Story by – Guillaume Fradin
Music by – Rachel Jamieson
Cinematography by – Stuart Howell
Edited by – Beatrix Grimbly
Production/Distribution Companies – Signature Entertainment, Peardrop Productions, Plan Nine Pictures & Eagle Entertainment
Starring – Simon Merrells, Hermione Corfield, Kemi-Bo Jacobs & Darrell D’Silva with Peter Horvath, Nina Mahdavi & Trevor Dion Nicholas
Rating – Around an Australian: M