Surrogates

What follows is pulp made near-profound through director Jonathan Mostow’s sure-handed guidance.

There's fun robot stuff, some good philosophical ideas, and a brief, nutty Willis-Ving Rhames reunion 15 years after "Pulp Fiction."

Willis is fine, both as his blond action figure (Zack Morris hair) and actual self, in trusty bruised palooka mode. Mostow does good meat-and-potatoes genre work, coherent even when reckless.

The questions the movie raises have less to do with science than movie execution: Do the actors sound so robotic because they are playing robots well or humans badly? And did a machine write this dialogue? If so, could we please apply for an upgrade?

In this kind of industrial entertainment, particularly one that seems to be missing some connective narrative tissue, it’s hard to know if the writers or the director can be credited or blamed for what’s left on screen.

The premise for this sci-fi actioner makes sense for about four seconds, after which you begin to wonder why everyone on the planet would willingly become a shut-in.

Surrogates' morality is less Asimov than asinine, although it's bizarrely reassuring, in a nihilistic sort of way, to believe that in the future, when the world is ready to play The Sims for real (so to speak), our avatars are all going to look like generic porn stars with shitty airbrush jobs.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

"Surrogates" is a disjointed SF movie that doesn't quite grasp the idea of what its talking about. However, it still provides you elegant cinematography as well as decent entertainment thanks to the "old" Bruce Willis.

Surrogates (2009) takes an interesting concept, people living through robotic avatars, and turns it into a straightforward action thriller. The plot is easy to follow, with a few twists along the way, but it never really digs deep into the bigger questions it could have explored. The movie has a polished look, and the visual effects for the surrogates are decent for the time, making them feel just artificial enough. The directing keeps the pacing tight, but the script doesn't do much beyond moving the story from one action scene to the next. There's a moment or two where it tries to be thought-provoking, but it doesn’t fully commit. Bruce Willis does what he always does, playing the tough, weary protagonist, but there’s not much character depth to work with. The supporting cast does fine, but nothing really stands out. Ving Rhames' presence adds some weight to the film, but the dialogue overall is just serviceable. The score is typical for an action thriller, doing its job without being memorable. The cinematography is solid, with some good action sequences, but it doesn’t do anything particularly unique. The movie is entertaining enough, but if you were hoping for something as layered as I, Robot, this one doesn’t quite reach that level. Still, it’s a decent watch if you're in the mood for a simple, action-driven sci-fi flick.

Des cloneries et des clowneries dans cette histoire assez abracadabrante sous forme de complot anti-clones et pas mal de conneries également avec la petite morale à deux balles à la fin. Sans doute un message caché (?) à la population obèse américaine rivée devant ses écrans et en train de cliquer sur Amacon. C'est à la fois peu crédible et globalement assez grotesque, pour ne pas dire sévèrement capillotracté. Au moins cela dit, on ne s'ennuie pas et on a deux belles blondes dans le lot (Pike et Mitchell) et un Bruce à peu près supportable. La réalisation est dans l'ensemble correcte et les effets spéciaux sont joliment rendus. Le film n'en demeure pas moins trop con-con : de grâce, ne le clonez pas !

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