The Machine is set in a time where the west is in a new-cold war with China. There is the belief that who ever has the best AI and the best robots will win. The film doesn't play on this new cold-war setting too strongly. Instead, The Machine tries to masquerade as a thriller, an action film, and a highly visceral experience. While it attains competence in all of these areas - there's a much stronger intellectual plot beneath the surface which is the most enjoyable part of the film.
These soldiers have strange eyes that glow, helping you differentiate them as augmented / robotic individuals. They speak a strange, muttered language that isn't subtitled and suggests that they're colluding.
The turning point in the film is when one of the AI researchers gets very close to having a machine capable of passing The Turing Test. From here, the plot becomes more interesting, and we get to see the development of the titular Machine.
She is infant-like in the body she is given, and her mental capacity grows as does her self-awareness. There are some tense scenes as The Machine comes to sense with its being. The film attempts to make these moments soft, open; and compassionate, but the overwhelming sense of tension and dread that the cinematography supplies inhibits the ability for emotion to be conveyed effectively.
As a result, The Machine is for the most part a film that is scattered, in particular in its conclusion; where there are so many apparent after thoughts added to the film in order to try and ensure all sorts of tropes are touched upon.
At the end of the film, you're left with a mess; and unsure of what the writers were attempting to achieve. It could be seen as an early blueprint for the excellent and stunning Ex-Machina; which was a much more sophisticated film. Watch that instead.
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