Danny Boyles Ink doesnt need its controversial AI scene

Since bursting onto the international stage in 1996 with Trainspotting , English filmmaker Danny Boyle has delivered exciting cinema that's thrilled audiences and critics alike, shifted the zombie horror subgenre ( 28 Days Later ), and earned Academy Awards ( Slumdog Millionaire ).

Last year, he had this critic positively gaga over his re-imagining of his fast-zombie franchise, 28 Years Later , which challenged expectations and delivered a compelling coming-of-age story studded with nightmare fuel.

This year, he's shifted away from genre and back into biopics.

Following 2010's 127 Hours and 2015's Steve Jobs, here comes Ink, a drama about how Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Yorkshire-born Larry Lamb transformed a failing UK rag into the powerful — and arguably dangerous — tabloid The Sun.

With a cast that boasts celebrated stars like Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy, Ink had early buzz to be an Oscar contender.

However, shortly after its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, Boyle unintentionally derailed award season discourse by revealing he employed generative AI for "about 30 seconds." Those who oppose generative AI have been quick to denounce Ink sight unseen.

Having now seen the film out of its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, I can confirm the AI scene that animates an old photograph is an eyesore and hurts the film as a whole.

Let's get into it.

Ink reveals the dirt behind The Sun.

Kicking off in 1969 London, Ink introduces Lamb (O'Connell) as a viciously ambitious newsman yearning to make his mark as an editor, and Murdoch (Pearce), who's years away from making Fox News a defining force in American democracy.

The two are posed like boxers ready for a fight, shoulders hunched in a dark, wood-paneled restaurant, which Lamb notes is the oldest in London.

In Boyle's signature style, the film cuts swiftly to a dissonant image to underscore the scene.

In this instance, it's a black-and-white photo of a line of men outside the restaurant, presumably celebrating its opening long, long ago.

The implication is this old-hat establishment is storied but unpopular.