No longer will the potential of nuclear annihilation be down to human error.
Or so Forbin and others believe…
AKA Skynet, the College Years (Or HAL-9000 - The Adventure Continues).
A horror movie about the perils of high technology, from the end of the space age, Colossus - The Forbin Project is a fascinating bridge between the paranoia of the Cold War and the potential of the computer in human affairs.
While it was released in 1970, Colossus feels like a response to the optimism from the start of the previous decade.
The US president (Gordon Pinsent) is a physical doppelgänger for John F Kennedy, and various other members of his cabinet are styled with the haircuts and dress of his administration.
The opening of the film, showing the cavernous insides of the supercomputer, and the President's optimistic speech to the world, reinforce a sense of optimism.
None of the cast are big names, which works to the movie's benefit. A star in Forbin's role might have added a level comfort that would have worked against the dry, almost docudrama-like atmosphere - although it might have added some added bite to the finale.
One of the film's strengths is how stripped-down it is.
None of the characters are that interesting - but because the movie is so short, it does not work against it.
Despite coming from a major studio, this film is essentially a genre programmer.
Restricted to a few settings and few speaking roles, it is pure premise - shortly after its activation, Colossus starts acting in ways its supposed masters do not like.
These early scenes are fascinating - Colossus's communication is via words on a screen. The filmmakers take advantage of these technological limitations, using the computer's delayed responses to build suspense.
In moments like these, Colossus - The Forbin Project feels like a dry run for director Joseph Sargent's 1974 thriller The Taking of Pelham 123.
When the computer launches a nuclear strike, we are only shown streaks on a projected map of the world - and yet they are probably the most tense sequences in the film.
And in a shocking turn, there is no last-minute reprieve - thousands are killed.
That action has its ripples as the threat of further attacks blackmails the humans to do whatever Colossus and its Soviet counterpart Guardian want, including - in some rather chilling scenes - executing anyone who tries to oppose them.
There is something ironic in watching a supposed instrument of the state (Colossus) use other (human) instruments of the state to kill their own comrades.
The film loses steam in its second half, as Dr Forbin is imprisoned and forced to work for Colossus, while trying to come up with a plan to destroy his creation. While potentially interesting, the film wants to be more of a character-based thriller, and the film's litheness undermines this shift.
It is probably a script limitation but Eric Braeden's performance does not give a sense of a character under pressure or in mental decline. And the filmmakers do not lean into that sense of claustrophobia.
The film's ending is downbeat, but it is hard to empathise with a group of military bigwigs worried about losing their missiles.
Or maybe that is the film's ultimate punchline - the supercomputers have accomplished their purpose of ending war.
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