Review: Surrogates
Posted September 25, 2009 12:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This is not a review – this is a public service announcement. Surrogates is not a good movie. It’s dumb techno-babble that could have been written by a computer program.
The concept behind the film (which is based on a graphic novel) is that humans would rather control a robot clone (or surrogate) with their minds than leave their house and interact with society. Crime and disease is down and people appear to be enjoying life, that is until a couple of surrogates are killed and the humans controlling them die with them. Now the police have a homicide on their hands and need to find out who did it and how they did it.
From the opening flashback of how the surrogate society came to be, I knew I was in trouble. The script is laughable and along with a horrendous plot there is a lot of bad dialogue. Not surprising since it was written by the pair behind such gems as The Net, Catwoman and Terminator: Salvation. When the film could get interesting (like the reservations the anti-surrogate humans live on or the psychological issues humans have going outside after losing their surrogate) it turns silly instead.
The biggest problem I had wasn’t with the script though – it was how the surrogates looked. I blame this on the motion-capture technology they used. Like Beowulf it just stands out too much and takes you out of the film. For instance, instead of looking like a human clone, Bruce Willis’s character, FBI agent Tom Greer, comes across as a hideous sex doll. Another issue I had was how all the humans who have a surrogate are fat and ugly except for Willis, who just looks like a scruffy, cool cop.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for Willis I would have walked out. He was the only redeeming part of the film and I’m embarrassed for him that he’s in it. As for the rest of the cast, Ving Rhames and James Cromwell were wasted and Radha Mitchell was flat, boring and terrible (like the entire film).
There are so many quality films in this genre (Strange Days, Minority Report, Gattaca) that unless you really have a love for awful techno-thrillers (or a clone that can go to the theatre for you) skip Surrogates and save some brain cells.
* out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
Cast: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames, James Cromwell
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Official Site IMDb
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
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Top image: Radha Mitchell and Bruce Willis in Surrogates. Courtesy Touchstone Pictures.
