Surrogates (2009)

I would think it's not easy to come up with original ideas in a movie about robots and their relationships with humans, but there is a lot of originality in the story here.To me the story treads a really sound middle ground between being too simplistic or convoluted. There are intriguing plot twists, but the plot is not so complex as to require several viewings to piece it together.I also appreciate the efficient way in which the story unfolds- for example, the movie does not waste time on things like excessively long chase or battle scenes.I also appreciate that the movie deviated from the common "saved at the last second" ending.Way better than the 6.3 overall rating it had as of the time of this review.

I'm all for a good sci-fi movie. Just seeing someone else's idea of what the future will be is exciting. This is one of those movies that caught my attention. Bruce Willis was excellent. The whole idea of having surrogates replace us was brilliant. I mean, who wouldn't want to just lay at home while someone else does everything for you? Or you could just hire a maid. In true Bruce Willis form, he delivers an action packed performance full of intrigue and mystery. If this is what we have to look forward to in the future, sign me up. The movie lacks very little, other than this kind of movie has been done a million times. We all want to be someone else, and this movie made you wonder how good or bad this would turn out.

In this world of the future, technology now allows people to experience life vicariously through the activities of their "surrogates", which are ultra sophisticated robotic creations. Trouble brews when the son of the programs' creator is killed. Bruce Willis plays Greer, an FBI agent forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to solve the conspiracy.An adaptation of the graphic novel by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele, "Surrogates" is slick genre entertainment, a cut above many films of this type due to some genuinely provocative content. It certainly may make each viewer ponder the idea of having what is essentially a robot live their life for them. A parallel between the obsessions of this films' characters and real life addictions to technology can certainly be seen. In the end, the need to stress, and reclaim, our humanity is made clear. The action scenes are capably handled, but there are not that many of them. This is one of those instances where the action is serving the story and not vice versa. The visual and makeup effects are generally well done.Credit is due to these filmmakers - led by director Jonathan Mostow - for hitting the ground running and keeping their pace rather lively. Refreshingly, "Surrogates" runs a trim hour and a half, so there's no uninteresting filler to have to sit through. There is some poignancy to the material, as Greer desperately tries to reconnect with his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike), who fixates on her surrogate, partly as a way of dealing with grief.Willis gives a sensitive, appealing performance in the lead, although it may be distracting seeing that wig on the head of his surrogate. Lovely ladies Radha Mitchell and Pike are fine, as is Boris Kodjoe as the FBI supervisor. James Cromwell and Ving Rhames are kind of wasted in their respective supporting roles, but it's fun to see Jack Noseworthy (a semi regular in Mostows' filmography), Devin Ratray (Buzz from "Home Alone"), and Michael Cudlitz (Abraham on 'The Walking Dead') turn up.Reasonably stimulating and diverting for 89 robust minutes.Seven out of 10.

I first viewed Surrogates upon its home format release and positively found it very ordinary. Viewing it again, with focus and in solitude, it proved to be a far better experience.The action scenes are what you would expect for a multi-plex appeasing popcorner, loud, colourful and owing great debt to modern technology. Yet to dismiss this totally as one of those easy money making blockbuster movies is most unfair.Surrogates oozes intrigue, even if it doesn't quite deliver on the smartness written on the page. The idea that in the future robotic alter egos can carry out our everyday mundane functions is cracker-jack, and it opens up a whole can of berserker worms. This is not merely an excuse to have Bruce Willis running around exploding surrogate robots, as much fun as that is of course, there's a deeper emotional core pulsing away as Willis fights the good fight to make sure being human is not cast aside like a thing of the past, that as flawed as we are, hiding away in a surrogate is not the answer.This axis of the story is beautifully realised by the plot strand involving Willis and Rosamund Pike as his wife, with both actors doing fine work to give it the required emotional heft. It may ultimately lose itself to a standard conspiracy plot, but there's intelligence within to make Surrogates a better film than it first appears. 7/10