Surrogates

It’s an odd thing the last two movies I’ve seen in theaters fall into the “sci-fi parable” genre. I’m not even sure what else actually comprises said category. Yet last month’s District 9 and the recently released Surrogates both find their clothes in the same alien/futuristic closet, utilizing to varied success levels out-of-this-world/time tales to shine the spotlight on anthropological items of note.

In Surrogates, the setting is a nebulous future date where humans live vicariously through their surrogate – a (usually) younger, sexier version of your self in robotic form. The flesh and blood forms lay lazily in dentist chairs with heat lamps surrounding them, electrodes attached to their head and Michael Phelps’ olympic goggles over their eyes. These instruments enable their neurological synapses to control their robotic forms out in the real world – whether having rampant sex with other sexy robotic creatures or doing daily chores like giving facials. Note: I’m not exactly sure how thought out this future world really is.

VSI is the corporation in question – an industry leader and, in fact, inventor of the modern surrogate. James Cromwell is Dr. Canter, the Jonas Salk of this futuristic world and one who found the “cure” for our pain in this world. By forming the surrogate, humans no longer have to endure fatigue, pain, the effects of aging or a number of other nuisances. By the time the storyline of Surrogates hits its full stride, 99% of the world’s population utilizes a surrogate in everyday life.

Led by The Prophet (Ving Rhames), there is a resistance to the surrogate movement made up of humans who live in encampments within every major city. A fragile treaty of sorts exists between the humans and surrogate world and protests are commonly held to speak out against the surrogates, arguing that technology steals our humanity, our need to be connected to something real. It’s here you can begin to see the parable at work and while it sounds good on paper, the fleshing out doesn’t play out so well.

Bruce Willis is Detective Tom Greer who along with his partner, Det. Peters (Radha Mitchell), is actively investigating an actual homicide – that of Dr. Canter’s son (James Francis Ginty). Since crime is essentially non-existent now that surrogates are around, the attention is profound upon this case and the search is on for what happened. As Willis explores the chaos within the surrogate section of Boston (read: all of Boston besides the encampment), he finds his own humanity colliding with the truths concerning the crime.

The special effects in Surrogate are indeed quite special and there’s a lot to enjoy in a movie like this. Yet there’s a “been-done-before” sort of feeling that emerges in this Terminator meets Minority Report meets Matrix sort of amalgam. Ultimately, Surrogates ends up lacking both the taste, the flair, the effects and the mythology of any of the above movies, making Surrogates a second-rate sci-fi flick in the end. The premise interests yet the execution fails to deliver.

Still, by movie’s end, you’re easily thinking about or discussing the ideals behind the film and that’s something to consider. The technology that fuels our lives will only continue to sink its roots deeper into our everyday existence, and the loss of the essence of being human is something that some already talking about. Surrogates at least serves to continue that conversation and that provides value, if nothing else.

Blu-Ray highlights include some deleted scenes, which really fail to reveal anything more about the plot or serve to move the story forward in any significant way – thus revealing why they were deleted in the first place. Although “Dread Encounter” is rather interesting presenting Surrogates riding zombie-like on the subway.  “A More Perfect You” presents an informative and entertaining look at the science behind the movie and how just very close we are to real robotics in our human world. The short documentary also reveals possible uses such as military or police force for surrogate technology. It’s the finest of the additions and is exclusive to the Blu-Ray format.

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Tagged as: Bruce Willis, James Cromwell, Radha Mitchell

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