Disney / Buena Vista | 2009 | 88 mins. | Rated PG-13
After directing the third film in the Terminator franchise, Jonathan Mostow returns to a story involving humanoid characters with robotic skeletons; Surrogates based on the 2005-06 comic book series of the same name. The comics premise is fascinating: a dark future in which society’s 21st Century obsessions—youth and beauty, online avatars and robotics, among others—have isolated its populous from the very things that make them human. While largely a cinematic failure, and not quite as ambitious as the comic book, the film still manages to highlight the acceleration of social disconnect.
The year is 2017, when a young man is killed outside a nightclub, FBI agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Radha Mitchell) are brought in to try and identify the body. This isn’t the world as we know it today; people rarely leave their homes. Robotic “others” or surrogates, take the place of real people (the home-based users of these devices control their every move, thought, and emotion). As a result, the killing of this young man has created quite a stir. When it’s discovered that the victim was the son of the man who created surrogacy, Dr. Canter (James Cromwell), the whole thing takes on the feel of a conspiracy.
The investigation takes Greer and Peters into the heart of a subculture opposed to the surrogates and everything that they represent. Lead by a ‘prophet’ (Ving Rhames) who may or may not be completely insane, at first blush, the group appears to have been responsible for the murder. However, the further Greer and Peters get with their investigation, the more they have to wonder if there isn’t a whole lot more to all of this than just the violent acts of some fanatics.
Surrogates play out like it wants to be I, Robot, Blade Runner and other sci-fi films of the sort. Unfortunately, by setting his film in 2017 (the comic was wisely set in 2154), director Mostow has placed the action so close to today, that the world he’s suggesting seems almost laughable. I know suspension of disbelief is generally a requirement for the science fiction genre, but the film’s timeline distracted me every time a new, more ludicrous invention would pop up on-screen.
The biggest issue with Surrogates though, is that it doesn’t explore the addictive aspect of people getting hooked on surrogacy that the comic book did. At the same time, it’s should be pretty easy for viewers to figure out who did it, which is never good for a fairly procedural cop yarn; Surrogates strives to be a moral tale about the dangers of technology vs. humans, but it fails to rise to that level. Bruce Willis is his usual affable self, so his fans may want to give this one a try. Otherwise, I would leave this on the shelf and pick up a copy of Blade Runner.
The AVC encoded image (2.40:1 aspect ratio) comes across unnaturally darkened, perhaps to help protect the seams of the visual effects. Shadow detail is lackluster, muddying up evening sequences unnecessarily. Facial detail is satisfying (the plastic appearance of the robots is believable and pronounced), and daylight moments are quite invitingly vivid. Colors are outstanding throughout, at their best when replicating the neon futureworld environment.
The 5.1 DTS-MA sound mix is very good when picking up on robotic sounds, bringing special energy to the soundfield when the layers of the Surrogate world are pulled back for inspection. Action sequences really work the surrounds, with aggressive LFE response adding the proper rumble to match the mayhem onscreen. I found the dialogue swallowed at times by the city sounds, but the majority of the conversations are presented cleanly. Outdoor atmospherics are heightened some to support Greer’s journey, enjoyably manipulated for further submersion.
English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles are included.
The special features are as follows:
• Audio Commentary: Terminator 3 director Jonathan Mostow delivers an informative commentary that covers the differences between Top Shelf Productions’ original graphic novel and his adaptation, digs into the story and characters, discusses his work with the actors, and dissects the locales, narrative structure, design work, and special effects that brought the neo-noir world of Surrogates to virtual life.
• A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates (HD, 15 minutes): An intriguing featurette in which the cast and crew (along with a number of experts) chat about the production, dissect the film’s themes, and introduce the real-world inventions and advancements that point to a future in which beauty, isolationism, robotics, and technology converge to produce a potentially dystopian storm.
• Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes to Life (HD, 7 minutes): This short overview of Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele’s first engrossing graphic novel features animated panels, interviews with its creators, and more.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 minutes): Four decent deleted scenes.
• Music Video (HD, 4 minutes): “I Will Not Bow” by Breaking Benjamin.
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