SPOTLIGHTS
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| Surrogates Review |
| Posted by Erik Luers on 10.01.2009 |
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Jonathan Mostow's new film, Surrogates is a disappointing science fiction film big on ideas but low on the execution of them. It asks a lot of questions and then runs in the other direction. Mostow's movie, Breakdown, was fun and dumb. This one is dumb and dull, a good concept without much to do.
A few questions. Why do all the surrogates look like prostitutes? Why do all the older people want to look younger? Is everyone against aging? Their surrogates love makeup.
How many surrogates does James Cromwell's character have? I lost count.
Why do the stars in the film (Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell) have surrogates that look just like them in real life? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose, at least somewhat?
How do the humans feel what their surrogates feel? Sometimes when we see a surrogate die, the human being in control dies as well. Sometimes they just get nosebleeds. Sometimes they aren't affected at all. How does this process work?
For those wanting to know if this follows the important horror movie rule of killing the lead African-American male off fast, the answer is, yes it does. In fact, they kill him off twice. And another character, played by Ving Rhames, turns out to be Caucasian. Don't ask.
Surrogate stealing is illegal, but what's to stop people from doing it? How can you be sure that the surrogate you're conversing with is really the human being you think you know? And I thought text messaging was ruining the art of conversation.
Some men have female surrogates and some women have male surrogates, or at least that's what Bruce Willis' character implies at one point. Call John Waters and Divine and we got one hell of a movie.
I also felt some District 9 vibes throughout this film. The news footage segments served as a good reminder of the movie about prawns, as did the "no humans allowed" signs and grungy areas that the humans in this movie decide to live in. Bad release date timing.
Is it a terrible movie? No, but it's too safe, too confused. It's a short film (about ninety minutes long) but it left me tired and thinking about sleep. I started to just see images on the screen and found myself unable to connect with them. And then the movie ended.
Luckily, I saw Pandorum a couple of minutes later and that kept me involved and intrigued. Now that was a good sci-fi movie. See that one.
Final Rating: 4/10
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