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Surrogates
USA 2009
produced by Max Handelman, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Elizabeth Banks (executive), David Nicksay (executive) for Mandeville Films, Road Rebel, Top Shelf Productions, Wintergreen Productions/Touchstone
directed by Jonathan Mostow
starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Francis Ginty, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames, Jack Noseworthy, Devin Ratray, Michael Cudlitz, Jeffrey De Serrano, Helena Mattsson, Michael Phillip, Danny F.Smith, Brian A.Parrish, Jennifer Alden, Shane Dzicek, Andrew Haserlat, Justin Goodrich, Lisa Jenai Hernandez, Thomas Kirk Hawkins
screenplay by Michael Ferris, John D.Brancato, based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti, Brett Weldele, music by Richard Marvin, special effects by Sandbox FX
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Sometime in the future: Humanity has been almost entirely replaced by surrogates,
beautiful looking robots the actual humans can control from the safety of
their home without the fear of ever getting hurt or anything. This is of c
ourse a very superficial way of living, which is why there are actual
humans who oppose the surrogates and want to turn the whole system
off, and they are led by someone calling himself the Prophet (Ving
Rhames). Within the boundaries of this set-up a very predictable plot
happens to happen: Someone has developed a weapon that kills the
surrogates' masters via their surrogates, and this weapon is used to kill
the son of Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of the surrogates who has
eventually been fired by his own company and now rejects the surrogates to
such an extent that he has even assumed the role of the Prophet - so in an
ironic but not original twist, the one who oppeses the surrogates the most
is actually a surrogate. Detective Greer (Bruce Willis with a terrible
blond wig), who for some reasons has lost his son, investigates, and
before you know it, he is not only suspended (as most good cops are), he
also loses his surrogate and now has to investigate privately and as a
human (Bruce Willis without wig - and actually better-looking) - and finds
out that Canter actually tries to wipe out all surrogate-kind, and
humankind with it in the process. After much uninteresting to and fro,
Greer can stop Canter from exterminating us humans, but lets him delete
all the surrogates, so we humans can be human once more. Oh, and by the
way, Canter's son was killed by mistake, Canter's former company actually
wanted to kill Canter himself. Oh
boy! Now I won't deny that I like the premise of this film, with us
humans being addicted on robots and the like - but unfortunately, neither
the script nor the direction of the movie manage to make much (satirical)
use of it, instead we are treated to your typical action movie that's as
predictable as it's interchangeable plotwise with any other sci-fi
actioner there is. At least Bruce Willis, always one of the better action
stars, is pretty good in it, but that hardly saves this film from being
totally flat. Not worth your time or money.
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