Surrogates

We live in a time of fear. We fear terrorism, we fear violence, we fear disease, we even fear our own image. We fear that we aren’t attractive enough, or strong enough, or that we are not as perfect as commercials tell us we should be. In today’s age of fear we also have technology. A technology that allows us to communicate with the world in an instant. We have computers, where for entertainment, we can create alter egos and participate in video games with other people anywhere on the planet. Our avatars play out our fantasies, while we sit snugly at home in our anonymity. This is the premiss that is being explored in Surrogates.

Bruce Willis plays a cop in the future where 90% of the population is living in surrogate form. While the operators are safely at home plugged in, their alter-egos, their Surrogates, go to work, run errands, go to parties, while they sit by and observe. When a murder takes place that kills a Surrogate and its operator, Bruce Willis’ character must abandon his surrogate form and enter the world as a man experiencing life first-hand.

I found this movie very intriguing. Bruce Willis, no stranger to science fiction (The Fifth Element), is effective as a robot, as well as in his human form. His face, which can be quite stoic naturally, is put to good use, when the only real emotion you can see, comes from his eyes. All the lead actors had to play two versions of themselves, the polished, plastic beautiful one, as well as the sun deprived, blemished one. It was really an interesting comparison. Rosamund Pike, who plays Willis’ wife, Radha Mitchell, who plays his partner, and Boris Kodjoe who plays his boss, are all attractive in their own right, but when seen in their robot form, you can understand the appeal of having a perfect, idealized, you.

The other side of this equation is the resistance. A small group of people who find these robots an abomination. Bound together by their common values this group of stand-outs are lead by Ving Rhames. They have chosen to exist in a machine free zone and experience life in its natural form. They preach contact, interaction, and they have claimed a part of the city where they may exist without the aid of machines. In these isolated compounds, surrogates are not allowed. In fact they are seen as the enemy.

James Cromwell, who invented the technology, now regrets his creation when its use has been expanded beyond his intent. Like any technology, his original purpose was noble, but commercial and military applications took the technology to a whole new place. This film explores the moral implications while taking us through a mysterious who-dunit in science-fiction form.

Surrogates is an entertaining film, but what keeps it from being great, is that I’m still not deterred. As a cautionary tale, this film failed. I still think it would be kind of cool to have a robot me. If this film was completely effective, I should be put off. I should have seen the errors of my ways, and rejoiced in being just me. Instead I’m still find the idea kind of titillating and I will continue to spend a lot of time thinking about how to have the best of both worlds. I’m mean really, a young, skinny, perfect me, running around doing all my work while I get to stay home in my pajamas, not a bad idea. At least this film got me to think, and that, in itself, is worth the price of admission.

Rating: Second Run We are all watchers