Prototype Review: Lo-Fi Sci-Fi Horror Leaves Everything To Be Desired

screenrant.com:

Determining the value of a movie, whether as a critic or a more casual viewer, is very much a matter of expectations: Did this deliver on what was expected of it? The answer doesn't have to be a simple yes or no, and neither response is inherently right or wrong, but the question remains in play. The key difference for critics is that, in the interest of making a fair assessment, they must consider what expectations are reasonable — someone expressing their personal preference can say a musical would've been better without all the song-and-dance numbers, but in a review, that reads as a willful failure to engage. With that in mind, this review aims to sincerely consider: How does one reasonably engage with Prototype, director Jack Peter Mundy's lo-fi sci-fi horror about a cutting-edge domestic android that goes rogue? This line of questioning unfortunately proves unflattering, exposing a movie that offers so little to its audience that spending only the 80-ish minutes required to watch it would be paying too much.

In the near future of Prototype, New World Robotics has invented artificially intelligent androids to help with menial household tasks, with high-ranking employees testing the prototype versions of different models. In classic horror fashion, the opening sees senior researcher Olivia (Stephanie Lodge) killed by the earliest model, Zero, which the company (and the film) is happy to sweep under the rug with a couple lines of dialogue. Principal inventor Roger Marshall (James Robertson), meanwhile, has been trialing One (Luke Robinson) at home with his family. An aggressive man who abuses his wife, Shelly (Danielle Scott), Roger is apparently unhappy with the seemingly good-natured One, who has in particular