I Checked Out the New AI-Generated Film from the Director of District 9—Here’s What You Need to Know.
Neill Blomkamp, known for his work on District 9 and Elysium, has just dropped a new short film, and surprisingly, he’s gone all-in on generative AI for this project.
Titled NIGHTBORNE, this marks Blomkamp’s first full-length AI film, created using Seedance 2.0. After a couple of years of experimenting with AI, he’s ready to dive into a full feature, starting with this 13-minute test.
The film is said to feature “real concept artists” and the “faces and voices of 32 real people,” but it bears no connection to District 9, despite fans clamoring for a sequel. I’ve sat through the entire film, and I’m here to break it down for you, so you don’t have to waste your time. Trust me, there’s no compelling reason to watch NIGHTBORNE. It’s creatively hollow, generated by algorithms, and frankly, it’s just plain dull.
Seriously, skipping this won’t leave you missing out on clever jokes, stellar performances, shocking plot twists, or any significant cultural commentary. The plot feels like a generic AI-generated concept, as if someone had a vague idea of a sci-fi/military mystery but never fleshed it out with any real creativity.
The story unfolds in a rough documentary style, which is puzzling. It follows a woman involved in a U.S. military operation in Syria; her helicopter crashes, and while she seems to survive, she’s soon subjected to an implant that turns her into a killer zombie. She’s then forced to battle other zombies for military training purposes. We’re meant to feel for her because she retains some memories of her husband and child, who is seen angrily confronting military officials about her fate. If the film had more time, it might attempt to explore her humanity, but as it stands, NIGHTBORNE offers nothing of substance regarding what it means to be human.
I’m poking fun at the plot, which claims inspiration from a book called Echopraxia by Peter Watts. I apologize if I’m misrepresenting the book without having read it, but after skimming its synopsis, I can’t see how this short film relates to it. Either Blomkamp’s concept fell flat, the AI diluted it, or both.
The AI-generated actors are equally forgettable, delivering lines with a lack of emotion that you’d expect from real people. Their expressions barely change, and there’s a moment post-crash where someone yells, “Aw, man, this co-pilot is dead!” with all the enthusiasm of someone who just spilled juice. Another line during the evacuation is equally uninspired:
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“She’s my buddy’s wife.”
“Oh shit! Well, I think she’s gonna make it, so that’s good.”
There are a few moments that try hard to evoke feelings, like the husband’s outburst at the military, but it escalates unnecessarily and feels pointless since we never see him again except in a flashback.
The music also has its odd moments, with ominous organ tunes playing at various points, perhaps because the AI associates organs with zombies, even if they’re more like military-designed cyborgs. If this was meant to be an artistic choice, it certainly misses the mark.
It’s tough to determine how much of the film’s shortcomings stem from being AI-generated versus just being a bad idea, but one clear issue is the visual inconsistencies. At a glance, it resembles a typical movie, but a closer look reveals all sorts of oddities—cars moving in strange patterns, bizarre windows, and blood stains that shift or vanish. I could go on listing visual and audio glitches throughout this 13-minute “film,” but we’d be here forever. Just one example: pens in a pocket that make no sense.
Overall, it’s passable enough that if you zone out and consume it mindlessly, it might register as a short film. But it’s utterly forgettable. I don’t see it as a showcase of what generative AI can achieve. A mediocre film made with real people and sets at least has a human artistic vision behind it, even if that vision is lacking. But what’s the point of using an AI that churns out uninspired content? Why even bother?
You could argue that AI will improve and eventually create films indistinguishable from those made by human hands, perhaps even ones that some might find interesting or entertaining. But even if we reach that point, I believe we should discard the idea of AI-generated art like this. It’s lazy, harmful, and fundamentally inhuman. My time on this planet is limited, and I want to engage with stories crafted by real people—good, bad, thrilling, and yes, even boring. I already regret spending my time on Blomkamp’s NIGHTBORNE. Don’t worry; you’re not missing anything worthwhile.
