Surrogates Has Bruce Willis Break Type-Casting by Playing a Law Enforcement Agent.

Posted by ScuzzBuster

September 27, 2009

I knew from the first trailers that Surrogates looked so incredibly cool that it had to have high probability of sucking. In a stunning turn of a events, Bruce Willis is playing a cop–well, an F.B.I agent this time. However, I’m happy to report that it’s not that bad, but it is a fairly unspectacular sci-fi thriller that was brimming over with a high concept and not whole heck of a lot more in terms of plot or action. I’m sure this is one of those films that will have its niche cult following in the coming years, But I think we’re looking at high concept, low box-office gross film.

The problem is that this much less interesting as a movie than it would be as a weekend discussion over a few drinks at the kitchen table into the wee hours of a Sunday morning intensely debating the ramifications of a society that could actually arrive where Surrogates wants us to believe we could in a mere 14 years from where we are today technologically. Surrogates is either a confirmation of or a complete contradiction of John Naisbitt’s “High Tech/High Touch” concept. This, simply put is the theory that the U.S. Economy will be based almost entirely on two things: “consumer technology and escape from consumer technology.” This, apart from being something I fundamentally agree with, also happens to be one of the things that stuck with me over the years from my college classes.

For those that haven’t dismissed this film multiple times sitting through trailers with a ridiculous looking Bruce Willis behind a wisp of blond hair, Surrogates presents us with a vision of the near future where a radical and sudden advancement in the technology of neural computer interfaces prompt massive changes that lead to average people living their lives through a highly realistic robotic surrogate.

My initial impression is that this film is a handful of high-dollar stars from being a straight-to-DVD release, but that’s probably unfair. However, I have to admit that when Bruce Willis faces down Ving Rhames at end of act two, I just kept wondering when Zed was going to get the call that a spider had caught a fly at the same time they were being watched over by Zefram Cochran still trying to herd Babe the pig on his warp prototype ship for its test flight with Commander Riker. I think the trio of Willis, Rhames and James Cromwell’s paydays may have equaled the entire technical part of the budget.

To recount some of what makes this film worthwhile at all, I would have to start with some of the performances, mainly Bruce Willis and Rosamund Pike . Pike plays Willis’s wife in nice supporting role. In an inadequately explored sub-plot about this aging couple both firmly rooted in their surrogate lives, Willis is starting to regret loss of true human interaction and Pike is thoroughly entrenched in hers. Early on we get a few hints that the couple tragically lost their son. She can only deal with the loss by completely withdrawing from reality. This is nothing monumental, but it’s part of the human story that is glossed over just enough to keep us from really getting any real foothold on a human connection with the characters or story. This is a rough loss for this film, because if this genre is on your list of regular film viewing you probably already have a pretty good handle on how this film ends, and not just because the scene is in all the trailers. However, the nice parts of their performances are really through the stark contrast we see in scenes with them vs. scenes with their “surrogates.” Willis gets the meat of this since he gets the bulk of the film in his real “body” and we get the true contrast between surrogates and humans.

While I feel that the “technical” effects in digitally making the surrogates look like various stages of youth and “quality” of the life-like appearance of the various surrogate models will probably be a point of criticism for some, I thought this was done well and it gives the film a personality that takes it up a few notches from just being that potentially direct-to –DVD sci-fi flick.

Beyond the premise, there’s a weak attempt at making a passable action thriller by infusing the plot with this mysterious “weapon” that can actually fry a surrogate while killing the operator, completely defeating the purpose of surrogacy which apparently in half a dozen years has taken the world’s crime rate down to virtually nothing along with death from disease rates. All that we really get from this is one pretty cool action sequence in act one and another decent one in act three.

Again, the film sparked my interest enough in the concept that I can’t totally dismiss it. We have a thought provoking concept, but unfortunately by the time the credits roll 99% of the interesting questions raised by this concept are essentially ignored. Questions like, why are all the real humans pretty thin, but the only really main character that has no surrogate one big fat guy? How can the entire population spend almost every waking hour in a reclining chair yet not be fat and unhealthy, much less still be able to walk? How can we really believe, as the movie establishes early, that 99% of the world’s population uses surrogates in every day life? While there’s this throw away line about how the rapid advance in robotics technology made it affordable for everyone, it’s still a lot to swallow. Hell, I still know people that are watching 13 inch color TVs with rabbit ears. I find it pretty hard to believe that a mere 14 years in the pretend future that you’re going to see third world countries across the ocean in this speculative society of surrogates.

I can’t really recommend Surrogates as this weekend’s hot date flick, it’s probably worth a look on DVD when the time comes. I see it more as an oddity. There’s just enough character and concept to keep it fairly interesting, but this doesn’t really excuse it from having a poorly realized plot that never makes it as an action-thriller, a human story, or even a very well executed cautionary tale about technology gone wild.

If nothing else, you have to admit that millions of people shedding their true identities to live vicariously through some imaginary character in a world that isn’t real is utterly and completely unbelievable. Well, back to World of Warcraft.

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