Ideas Flourish But "Surrogates" Still Misses Its Mark

In the future, the majority of humans live through controlled robots known as surrogates. These robots let their user experience every aspect of its being. Human go through life without fear of losing it. Crime, disease, racism, and other social no-no's have been drastically lowered since the start of the surrogate program.

FBI agent Greer, Bruce Willis, and Peters, Radha Mitchell, are called to a surrogate murder in which the users died while "plugged in." This is unheard of because human users are suppose to be protected by dozens of fail safe programs. It is now up to Greer and Peters to track down whoever committed the crime.
There is this resistance that is against using these surrogates. These humans live in pockets throughout the world and have beliefs on the way life should be that resembles some type of a neo-amish community. The Prophet, Ving Rhames, leads the all human community. This resistance group becomes the number one suspect in the murder.

Director Jonathan Mostow does a fairly good job depicting this future world that is run by machines. There are charging stations throughout cities, upgrade centers that offer "Free Breast Upgrades", salons that surrogates can go to to be mechanically detailed from cheek bone modifications to installing smaller noses. The surrogates themselves are semi slow and resemble a giant Barbie doll which helps tell them apart from humans. Mastow also adds this notion that your surrogate doesn't have to resemble who your human self real is. This is an awesome little tid bit that soon becomes over used by the middle of the story. Throughout the second and third act, it feels like a game of "Clue" mixed with "Total Recall."

The story is filled with great social commentary. The world is out of touch with human contact. With technology overwhelming the population, many people become fixated on only living through the surrogates. This becomes one of Greer's desires. He wants to feel human contact again but hardly gets it. His physically and emotionally scarred wife Maggie, Rosamund Pike, locks herself in her room while he faces her surrogate on a day to day basis.

This great idea becomes overshadowed by pointless car chases and mediocre twists. The movie falls short in the action department. This shouldn't be an action movie. There is no need for robots being ripped in half or pile driven through mall windows. Willis and Pike do a good job creating this relationship based on artificial means and the story would have played out better if it kept focus on that.

I give the slight advantage to telling you to "SEE THIS" because the idea that living through a machine, because we have become numb to the feeling not because it protects us, is a good story and kept me entertained.

"Surrogates" (Directed by Jonathan Mostow, 2009) 1hr 29 min

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