Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell, Ving Rimes, Helena Mattsson

"Surrogates" is not your run of the mill sci-fi movie. It is set in a time that looks and feels very much like today. In this futuristic society, people live in the isolation of their own homes, rarely stepping out beyond their front doors. All interaction occurs through surrogate robots who are "made to order" in the perfect fantasy representation of how we would like to see ourselves. Flawlessly fit and beautiful, these robots live by remote directions from humans who are connected through a futuristic virtual reality mechanism.

Bruce Willis is our leading man and it is fun to see him as we first met him years ago with a full head of hair and that roguish, irresistible, cocky charisma. Aha! This is one of the hooks that makes this movie so intriguing. It grabs us into figuring out which characters are real and which are robots.

As a surrogate, Tom Greer (Willis), as well as all others, are coifed and refined. As human, Greer is bald, unshaven and ironically looking almost as detached as his robotic counterpart. Greer is a good cop, yet a broken man after the killing of his young son. He and his wife lose themselves in the lives of their jobs and identities of their surrogates as if that reality serves to numb them from their real pain of facing life.

The lines between actually living life and living on a chair hooked up to a surrogate by remote are blurred. Perhaps that element alone made this a thinking person's film. Consider, how many people now exercise only in front of their TV with the Wii? How many people play Nintendo games inside their homes for pleasure? How far away could this film be from where our society's future is heading?

Living in this semi-robotic state has served to keep crime and violence down in this world because only the robots get beat up and repaired. This illusory state of security is shattered when humans are murdered in their homes while connected to their surrogates.

Greer is the police officer who is enlisted to investigate these murders. In the process, his surrogate gets destroyed only to discover that there is a conspiracy far greater than Greer and his surrogate partner (Radha Mitchell) imagined. Greer is forced to leave the protection of his insulated life inside and go out into the world, risking everything to find the truth.

This film boasts strong performances by Willis and supporting cast. It is the movie's fine-tuned direction that makes it suspenseful and keeps viewers glued to their seats to see an unexpected (and far better?) ending — for humans as well as surrogates.

Chic Stars: * * * *

Jan's Movie Rating System:

* * * * * — Top-notch entertainment

* * * * — Compelling, heartwarming, thrilling, comical

* * * — The a) story b) actors c) special effects saved/made this movie.

* * — If you are bored, watch it or wait for DVD

* — Don't bother. Too morose, too violent, too blase, an enigma.

Jan James Stetter
		About the author:
		Jan James Stetter is the "Media Maven" for Cincy Chic. A Cincinnati native, Jan resides in the side of town that bore LaRosa’s pizzas and Skyline chili. Stetter is a discerning film critic letting readers know what is hot and what is not at the box office. She welcomes input and feedback from her audience, so e-mail her at jstetter@cincychic.com.
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Last update: 28-12-2009 13:17

Published in : Magazine Items, Social