This is not a great movie, but Surrogates kind of grew on me as it went on. Its premise is a little loopy, but not so much so that we can't buy it. It's set in an alternate future, where humans spend all days in their homes hooked up to a machine, where they control a human-like cyborg known as a Surrogate. Through them, people can live the lives they want to lead without any consequences whatsoever, or without fear of illness or injury.

It's a little far-fetched, but intriguing. It also kind of reminded me of Gamer, that mindless action movie that came and left theaters over the Labor Day weekend. That was the movie about people who could live out their lives through video game characters and other people under their control. This is a much better take on the idea. Bruce Willis stars here as an FBI Agent named Greer. Like everyone else in this movie, he has a Surrogate that he uses on the job. Willis plays the Surrogate as well, and it's a little creepy how they made Willis as the robot version of himself look 20 years younger. Greer is partnered with another Surrogate named Peters (Radha Mitchell), and early on, they're both called in to investigate a murder that led to the death of both a robotic Surrogate and its user. Normally, when a Surrogate "dies", the connection with the human is terminated, and the human just has to go out and get another one. But someone somewhere has developed a weapon that can kill a Surrogate, and kill whoever's mind is hooked up to it at the same time.

The murder victim is the son of famed scientist, Dr. Canter (James Cromwell), who initially designed the Surrogates for use of the disabled and paralyzed. Eventually, he lost control of his own invention, was kicked out of the company he helped build from the ground up, and now Surrogates are used by everybody in everyday life. He doesn't know who would want to murder his son, but then starts to think maybe the killer mistook his son for him, since at the time of the murder, the son was using one of Canter's Surrogate personalities for a night on the town. Greer and Peters begin to gather information, and all signs seem to point to a hostile group of "anti-robot" humans, who are led by a street preacher who calls himself The Prophet (Ving Rhames). Naturally, it's not that simple. I'll leave it up to you to discover the rest, but the story moves at a very brisk pace, and never gets bogged down.

With a running time just under 90 minutes, Surrogates seems to fly by, which is a bit of a let down. There are some interesting ideas that I wish the film had explored deeper. About halfway through the film, Greer's Surrogate is dismantled, so he has to step into the outside world himself for the first time in order to continue the investigation. There's a great scene when he steps outside his apartment for the first time in who knows how long, and he's just overwhelmed by the sights and sounds around him. He looks at the people on the street in paranoia and fear, since he doesn't really know who anyone is, since everyone is a robotic representation. They could be anyone, and he doesn't know who to trust. There's also a kind of touching subplot concerning his wife, who is hooked up to her Surrogate at all times - He hasn't seen his real wife in years, and it's starting to bother him. Like I said, the whole concept is pretty far-fetched, but the screenplay by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato (Terminator Salvation) gives the material just enough human emotion that we can at least sympathize.

The filmmakers seemed to care about giving us an interesting world here. There are different models of Surrogates - The cheaper and more basic models are pretty low rent, and then there are the more expensive ones that are hard to discern from actual humans. I would have liked to have seen more of it, since director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) has a strong visual style, and knows how to shoot an impressive action sequence. I got the feeling that there was a lot left on the cutting room floor. We learn just enough about the characters to get by, but not much more than that. We also learn some elements of the plot (such as the military's involvement) that don't seem as fleshed out as they should be. Something tells me a director's cut would solve some of the nagging questions I had when the end credits came.
Regardless, Surrogates is a fun little movie. It's well made, and has some interesting ideas, while not exactly breaking any new ground for the genre. September is usually a time of the year when the studios either release the stinkers, or the movies they couldn't place in either the big summer or winter months. The latter is the perfect way to describe this film. It won't have the box office impact of heavy hitters like District 9, but it held my interest.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments