Surrogates stars Bruce Willis and actors nobody has ever heard of before. It is a cross between The Fifth Element (fans are split on whether that movie is a disgrace or a thriller) and I Robot. I much prefer the iPhone or the iHome, and this holiday season wish for the iWrite so I will not have to compose any more articles! Surrogates has more than enough mechanical ammunition to keep us thrilled, but the enacting of a premise adapted from yet another graphic novel makes the idea too juvenile for my liking.
Bruce Willis is not what he once was, a hulking action hero with a regular guy appeal. This is a techno-thriller masterminded by yet another group of visionaries who believe the world as we knew it is no longer what we believe it is or will be. If you can stomach another cataclysmic premise and love action, this might whet your appetite. If the entire futuristic doomsday apparatus is not palatable, do not swallow.
Willis looks fantastic with a wig; it is enigmatic why he never donned one to begin with. The entire movie is one giant virtual reality/video game simulation. People no matter how old, out of shape, infirm, obese, unattractive, etc, are able to control surrogates while lazily lying in bed. This is wonderful for most people. It is superficial, shallow and callous to a small group of defectors led by Ving Rhames et al. The inventor of surrogates loses his only son when his own corporation uses a weapon that is capable of somehow destroying the mind of the controller while ruining the surrogate model, sort of a two birds with one stone concept. With the inventor of surrogates hell-bent on bringing down the whole system it is no wonder so much chaos ensues.
The entire movie is exciting if we shed our incredulousness and embrace the premise of surrogates as a possible option for the future. How far off is it anyway with plastic surgeries? Want your ass done? Your cheeks? Eye lids? Legs? Calves? Biceps? Abdominals? Hell, we can even gain a mathematical microchip if we want to enhance our inner braniac! If we are hypercritical and cannot ignore the silliness of the writing then please ask yourself the following questions: Do people mind not having sex anymore? Do they mind that a 500 pound porker may be the controller of Mr. Six pack abs flirting with them? Is it gross that a 90 year old woman may be copulating (sort of, robotically) with a 20 year old youth? Is it weird that people never procreate because they are always in separate controller beds? Do people care that they are never truly with their loved ones in the flesh? Being all you can be is one thing, but never enjoying who you really are is psychological derangement of a whole different variety.
Overall there are good action sequences here. Bruce Willis is and will always be remembered as the king of the action movie. Surrogates however may be remembered only for how narrow-minded and blatantly idiotic the premise undergirding the entire film is. Enter smart, turn off the switch to become an imbecile, after almost two hours flip on the switch again and leave happy? Not me.
