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SURROGATES |
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Bruce Willis is a better actor in weird sci-fi/ supernatural films than he is when he tries to play a straight role. No one will argue
he was excellent in "Sixth Sense" and "12 Monkeys". He takes another stab at weirdness with "Surrogates". Image living your life through a robotic surrogate. The surrogate goes to work, shopping, partying, etc while you lay around at home
enjoying the sensations with out the physical risks. Sound interesting? |
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James Cromwell is genius inventor Canter who invents the technology and the film gives us a quick rundown on the
benefits of using a surrogate. Laws were changed to permit surrogates to fill-in for the humans; the public in general accepted the technology. The biggest benefit is
that crime has gone down 99%. Until the inventor's son gets whacked by a weird electrical gun that fries the surrogate and the controllers brain. Enter Bruce Willis' Greer character - an FBI agent assigned to solve the case. When it is learned the son was using a surrogate of
Canter questions are raised. With the help of another agent named Maggie (Rosamund Pike), Greer closes in on this fantastic weapon and the folks who own it. That's when we are introduced to the surrogate hating resistance run by Ving Rhames as the Prophet. He see's surrogates as evil and the ultimate
doom of mankind. |
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Greer's surrogate in closing in on the culprits encroaches the resistance surrogate-free reservation - which is a violation of federal law -
and gets destroyed. His boss Stone (Boris Kodjoe) takes him off the case pending an investigation. Naturally - Willis characters are always taken off the case and go it alone. While still digging around he stumbles onto the details of the weapon and the fate of mankind. What will happen? "Surrogates" effectively keeps the pace, however shallow. His partner, Radha Mitchell's Peters has good chemistry as a
surrogate. And there is a decent backstory concerning Greer's relationship with his surrogate addicted wife whom he hasn't seen in the flesh in years. That is the question posed by the film: What will happen to man if robots do all the work? This is the same question posed by the animated film
"Wall-e" in 2008. But you also detect elements of the recent release "Gamer" with the whole populace living vicariously through someone or something else. People are
emboldened and of course have self improvement without all the real physical discomfort. Yet I would have like to seen a storyline tapping into the 1983 thriller "Brainstorm" (Natalie Woods last movie). "Surrogates" misses the
perverse nature of having an out of body experience. It's far to clean. So it could have used a boost to an R-rating to keep it more realistic but that doesn't diminish it's entertainment value. --GEOFFREY BURTON
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