It is fortunate for Surrogates that it is not actually about what is presented on screen since what is presented on screen doesn’t really make any sense. A brief history lesson asks us to believe that in just seven years following the invention of robots that could be controlled by thought, world society had adopted them to such a degree that 98 percent of the world population uses them as avatars out in the real world while they remain connected to rather comfortable-looking chairs. That’s interesting since currently 98 percent of the world population doesn’t even yet have television. Also, once given a perfect human body everybody seems to be content to just go on living normal humdrum lives. I guess someone still needs to be the garbageman since no other aspect of society seems to have experienced any technological advance from what we already know.
©Touchstone Pictures
The world of Surrogates however, doesn’t need to make perfect sense because it is not an attempt to realistically explore the idea of robotic escapism. Rather, it’s a condemnation of our current society for having gone too far down this road already. Everybody will have to decide for themself how important a concern this is but personally, if it inspires just one person to play less World of Warcraft, it will have been worth my 90 minutes. …Which is the only way it’ll have been worth it, for while Surrogates has aspirations to something deeper than a basic murder mystery in a science fiction setting, those aspirations remain unfulfilled.
FBI agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Radha Mitchell) are called into a case of “vandalism” that destroyed several robotic avatars (“synths” in the movie’s lingo). It wouldn’t be such a big concern since you can just get a new synth, but it turns out that the operators of two of them seem to have been killed when their synths died. Something, of course, that should be impossible. The case escalates again when it turns out one of those operators is the only son of Dr. Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of the robotic technology that has reshaped society.
Greer’s pursuit of the truth brings him into contact with an anti-synth humanist group and forces him to reconsider his own use of the technology. The problem is that events move through the plot twists with a wooden stiffness that matches the rigidity of several of the synths. It is a great boon to the actors that for most of their screentime they’re actually playing robots so being flat is perhaps actually good acting. But when the characters don’t seem all that invested in what it is happening, it is difficult to go it alone as the viewer.
Ultimately, though, this is a movie that will benefit greatly if you can (as people so often write me to say when I pan a movie) just turn off your brain and not think about things at all. Bruce Willis is, as always, fun to watch—even if he has been replaced by computer effects for much of the movie. Issues are raised that, like a good fortune cookie fortune, has the appearance of depth without actually saying much. The final climax has a certain visceral thrill (only moderately harmed by appearing in most of the trailers) worth waiting for. It also seems to recognize that it doesn’t have so much to say as it pretends and so doesn’t waste any time getting through the necessary events at a brisk 88 minutes.
Not being familiar with the graphic novel on which this movie is based, it cannot be said with certainty, but there’s a strong suspicion that fans of that graphic novel will not be impressed by the changes made in adapting it to film. Wikipedia suggests that many of the issues I expressed early in this review are handled better in the novel by setting events farther in the future (2054 rather than essentially current day) and making the adoption of synths much more restrictive. Also, some significant changes were made to the conclusion.
Surrogates is rated PG-13 and earns that rating. But it is “Disney PG-13,” meaning that there is essentially no swearing, almost no sex, the only drug scene involves no real drugs, and there’s plenty of violence (though mostly to robots).
Surrogates is a Touchstone Pictures release.
- Wide release on Friday, September 25.
- Directed by Jonathan Mostow
- Screenplay by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato
- Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames
- Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene.
- Running time 88 minutes
- Alex’s Rating: 6 out of 10
