Love, Death & Robots Volume 4 Review

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Click here for quick audio version

Ah, it’s taken three years for Netflix to deliver fans a fourth volume of Love, Death & Robots, but they serve some great visual pieces, so the wait might’ve been worth it.

Volume 1 of Love, Death & Robots had a whopping 18 shorts, while the next two editions offered only 8–9 stories each. But Volume 4 turns up the scale a little bit by offering viewers 10 shorts, though a few more dealing with diverse themes would’ve sweetened the deal. And in the spirit of the anthology’s running gag about cats being the real masters of the world, Volume 4 too serves some cat-tastic tales. The animation quality continues to remain top-notch and stunning throughout the show, along with some great background music.

Kicking off Volume 4 is a musical marionette show titled ‘Can’t Stop’, directed by David Fincher, which is almost like a musical opener for Love, Death & Robots. It’s less than five minutes long and is essentially just string puppet versions of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers rocking out to one of their biggest hits, ‘Can’t Stop’, at a concert. The animation by Blur Studio is great, lending the marionette music concert a very rock-and-roll vibe. But those who aren’t fans of the band or the song may not enjoy this little musical treat in animated format.

The second episode titled ‘Close Encounters of the Mini Kind’ is an excellent miniature animated film that’s a cross between H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and Mars Attacks, serving up an epic aliens-versus-humans battle that’s apocalyptic in nature. Directed by Robert Bisi and Andy Lyon, the story is akin to the miniature zombie apocalypse featured in Volume 3 of Love, Death & Robots, but more violent and sci-fi in its treatment, with plenty of hilarious moments.

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and based on a short story by Bruce Sterling, the third animated short called ‘Spider Rose’ was totally wicked. It’s a sci-fi flick that follows a half-human, half-cyborg woman living alone in space, preparing to extract revenge from her husband’s killers. Unexpected hope and comfort come her way when she exchanges a crucial find with an alien species for a unique pet. It was hard to say where the plot was headed, but within 15 minutes it delivers an atmospheric story of grief, loss, vengeance, and the kind of joy and tragedy pets can bring into one’s life. The animation by Blur Studio is amazing, with a dark, broody palette dominating the colour scheme of the tale.

Based on a story by Marc Laidlaw, the fourth episode is yet another futuristic, post-apocalyptic tale titled ‘400 Boys’, set in a wrecked metropolis inhabited by bands of human survivors who appear to have superpowers and are constantly battling each other. “This is it. World War Last,” says a character in the first few minutes of this short, while walking through the ravaged city. This was the first film in Volume 4 whose animation style didn’t appeal to me instantly. Directed by Robert Valley, with animation by Passion Animation, the art style in ‘400 Boys’ is curiously retro-futuristic, not necessarily steampunk, but something in between. While some frames in the short are beautifully animated, the character designs for the antagonists were rudimentary and blobby. It was probably a deliberate artistic choice, but it just diffused the tension for me. This is probably the weakest short in the anthology.

An overambitious scheming cat teams up with its new home robot to take over the world in the fifth short ‘The Other Large Thing’. Love the idea, and it is so on theme, except for the ‘love’ part. There really is no romance throughout the new collection, and that’s a drawback. Anyway, directed by Patrick Osborne, this short is based on a story by John Scalzi and has animation by AGBO. I didn’t really like the way the cat looked, but the voice-over is great and its sassy “I am God” attitude compensates for the choppy character design. The cat is a pet owned by a gluttonous, dumb couple whose character designs were also grotesque. They are morbidly obese, speak gibberish, and make the viewer root for cats to take over the world.

By the sixth short film in Love, Death & Robots, the themes begin to get repetitive, because once again, it’s about aliens versus humans and a possible apocalyptic event. Based on a short story by Dave Hutchinson, ‘Golgotha’ is a quick but honestly funny sci-fi tale about alien visitors wanting to parley with a human vicar, as they believe he found their God. What you’d immediately note about ‘Golgotha’ is how eerily real the animation is. Actor Rhys Darby, who plays the vicar, looks like he really is in the film, though maybe with more makeup than usual. I am not a big fan of animation that is so real it blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Like, what’s the point? Might as well make a live-action film. But since there are alien elements in the tale, it makes sense to go for the animated medium. Directed by Tim Miller, ‘Golgotha’ is crisp, clever, comedic, and wittily delivers a powerful message: humans are really messing up the planet.

The seventh film, titled ‘The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur’, also directed by Tim Miller, is easily my favourite one from Love, Death & Robots Volume 4. The animation by Blur Studio isn’t as realistic as Golgotha but is still fantastic, with a dash of realism and a glossy fantasy touch. The story is a mash-up of Dune, Gladiator, and Hunger Games, wherein the rich gather in a massive stadium to watch the best fighters of their planet battle each other to death while riding deadly giant animals. Based on a short story by Stant Litore, this short is a stunning sci-fi action piece told through the eyes of a female warrior participating in the bloodsport, courting deadly wounds while wealthy spectators drink wine and cheer on. Who will win, and at what cost? This is an epic little tale packed into under 15 minutes and a total visual treat.

The eighth film turns back time for a change and focuses on religion. Titled ‘How Zeke Got Religion’, the story is based on a work by John McNichol and directed by Diego Porral. Set during World War II, it follows a team of Americans on a daring mission to bomb a church in German-occupied France with their B-17 Flying Fortress, Liberty Belle. However, the team is not prepared to deal with an evil demon summoned through an ancient ritual at the church. The American B-17 instantly reminded me of Masters of the Air, but this short throws in some gory supernatural horror with the real-life terrors of war. The animation by Titmouse is classic American comic-book style, in vibrant but retro colours and warm tones. Zeke is the lead character, an atheist soldier who finds God in the unlikeliest of events. So yes, there is some solid religious propaganda in there, but it’s also very entertaining.

Well, the less said about short number nine, the better. It’s a small, silly montage that reimagines what the world would look like if household appliances could review their owners’ behaviour. Aptly titled ‘Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners’, the film animates common appliances who talk about what it’s like to serve their weird humans. It’s mildly comical, but I was expecting something a lot punchier from Love, Death & Robots.

The anthology wraps up with another cat tale titled ‘For He Can Creep’, which is set in 18th-century London and follows a cat’s mission to protect his poet from the grasp of Satan. Directed by Emily Dean and based on a story by Siobhan Carroll, this tale is essentially cats versus Satan, a very amusing battle of powerful forces, wrapped in literature and wit. The animation by Polygon Pictures Inc. is distinctly different from the other stories. While it is pretty engaging, the cat designs were in dire need of an upgrade. The cats looked like they were digitally generated by AI and lacked a human touch, which may very well have been the case. It is only because the plot is wildly amusing, where a cat takes on the Devil for an impoverished poet, that this was an entertaining watch. Otherwise, the animation needed more polish.

If you’re a fan of the Love, Death & Robots series, this collection is definitely worth your time. However, just like Volume 3, it could have benefited from more diversity in themes and settings. Hopefully, Netflix will continue to give more filmmakers a platform to share their animated masterpieces through this anthology.

Rating: 7.5 on 10. Watch it on Netflix.

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