Review – Surrogates
October 11, 2009
Review – Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, and Ving Rhames. Rated PG-13 for language, sexuality, some intense sequences of violence, and a drug-related scene.
Bruce Willis is back in Surrogates, a sci-fi thriller set in the not too distant future. The idea here is that a scientist has invented “Surrogates,” which are extremely sophisticated robots that perform all the functions of daily life that humans were once “burdened” with. The operator simply “plugs in” to a machine at home and then sends his/her surrogate out into the world. He/she can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel everything that the surrogate does, with no risk of injury or death to the human user. Jump out of a plane without a parachute? Sure. See what it feels like to get hit by a speeding bus? Go for it. The possibilities are endless. But when a user turns up dead because his surrogate was “killed,” everything changes.
I keep hearing that Bruce Willis is getting too old to do action movies. Baloney. Willis can still bring it, as he did in Live Free or Die Hard, and as he does in Surrogates. The movie is quite entertaining. It has some pretty cool futuristic technology, a good story, and some great action sequences. Everything you want out of a sci-fi thriller. And of course, we are forced to examine the moral implications of this futuristic technology – a must for any good sci-fi flick.
The movie did get a little slow at times, but not often and not for long. There was a heavy focus on the relationship between Willis’ character and his wife, which normally can slow down a film like this, but in this case it was pertinent because it related to the whole theme of the movie. All in all, a good time at the theater.
Overall rating: 3 cheeseburgers
