Surrogates (2009)

A sci-fi movie involving a dystopian future, beset by massive corporations, most of them evil, savaging the human race without it's own knowledge. One man fights to save the world from a doomed fate that it is not even aware of in the first place.

Hmmm....

Yes, okay. We get it. Probably because the storyline isn't new. I couldn't count on the fingers of one hand how many times I was reminded of those other dystopian nightmares and how many times I also wondered just what inspires movie makers to assume that the worst of humanity is all that we have to look forward to?

Skipping through the daisies wouldn't be as entertaining, I'll grant you. But more of this? Really?

You have to wonder how this was pitched to Bruce Willis, because the studio exec in question needs a medal. You can bet she didn't mention the fact that this was exactly like a hundred other films that we have seen before, done slightly better and benefitting from our admiration a little more due only to the fact that they thought of this before some other studio decided to throw their money at it.

In a world where remakes are common, and usually sub-standard, you would hope for more from an ostensibly original screenplay. These days of horror deja-vu from as little a ten or twenty years ago and coming out of yet another summer of sequels, I was hoping for more and was undoubtedly disappointed by what was on offer.

With this and James Cameron's Avatar looming large on the (blue) (screen) horizon, the other-worldliness of almost breathless and infinite possibilities were there to be harvested. Early indications from Avatar suggest that it will indeed do justice to it's subject matter. Here however, is a prime example of an opportunity missed. A lacklustre vision of a technologically marvellous human awakening.

With the entire global population no longer bothering to leave their homes and choosing to use artifically created human 'surrogates' to do their physical bidding for them, life seems great. Crime is at an all time low as you would feasibly expect. Everybody looks exactly like they want to, cannot be injured and are on the outside at least, perfect physical specimens. With all of this perfection, it only seems right that someone would throw a spanner in the works, and this spanner comes in the guise of the first murder of one of these 'surrogate' humans using a previously unheard and unimagined weapon that also kills the user, in the comfort of their armchair.

Rightly, the film unveils a seedy underbelly as the usual warning in films of these types do that technology is not exactly all good news and echoes many previous attempts to advise us that life is possibly sweeter just as it is. As a lesson in morality, it isn't a message that is rammed down your throat, as despite the pitfalls, the technology still seems infinitely more appealing than the reality we are offered as an option.

To that end, the film scores high. The special effects are very well used, making up somewhat for everything else that the film is lacking in. If you walk into this expecting a feast for the eyes, you might not be blown away by it, but you won't feel short changed either. For those expecting a glamorous philosophical argument told in the form of a cautionary story should look elsewhere. Entertaining enough for the eye candy, but lacking any real punch for the brain.