A Year of Bad Movies # 16 — “Surrogates”
Surrogates (2009)
IMDB Score: 7.2 out of 10
Metacritic Score: 47 out of 100
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36 out of 100
Capping off my 17-hour bad movie marathon was “Surrogates,” the new action thriller staring Bruce Willis.
In the end, Bruce Willis turns out to be as much of a dick as Snake Plissken. Props to those that get the reference.
Maybe it was because I had just spent the previous 15 hours watching some truly terrible movies but I just didn’t think that “Surrogates” was that bad.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow, “Surrogates” is an adaption of a graphic novel about a future where humanity has taken to living vicariously through the use of robotic body doubles. Bruce Willis stars as an FBI agent investigating a murder, a rare event since android proxies have become popular.
While the murder mystery at the film’s core was not terribly exciting or truly mysterious, a series of novel action scenes and a fast pace more then helped make up for the deficiencies.
Hats off go to the film’s special effects. The use of makeup and computer wizardry to contrast Bruce Willis with his ideal robotic persona was one of the creepiest things I’ve seen since “Benjamin Button” gave Brad Pitt teenaged pimples.
In fact, I almost think that the premise was a perfect excuse by the studio to create a film that featured almost exclusively good-looking people. In a world where people could live in robot shells that looked like whatever they wanted, why would anybody choose to be an ugnaught? Thus, the film makes stingy use of anybody not sporting perfect skin and a winning smile.
The movie’s real strength lies in its interesting premise. In a world where anybody can live exactly the kind of life they want to, people have begun to loose touch with their own humanity. As I watched the film, I found myself really engrossed in the type of lifestyle that would propagate in a real-life Second Life.
With the increased popularity of Internet avatars, the film’s message certainly seems timely. Increasingly, the usage of separate online personas (oftentimes far different from people’s real life identity) is becoming a popular form of escapism. It’s not too difficult to imagine a reality where these online avatars become physical manifestations.
I remember when I first got access to the Internet as a kid and created my very own AOL account. As I traversed through AOL’s primitive first-generation chat room systems, I oftentimes found a temptation to create a new personality, more often then not for the purpose of having a little fun and creating some online havoc. Hiding underneath the veil of Internet anonymity, I was able to become a cyber wiseass, saying the type of things that I would never have had the guts to say in real life.
The people that make up the world of “Surrogates” simply take that to the next level — using their robotic bodies to not only say, but to also do the things that would seem unlikely or even impossible to do in real life.
“Surrogates” is not a perfect movie, but it was certainly a fun way to end my attempt at catching up on my year of bad movies.
I don’t disagree here. Pop some popcorn. Watch the movie, but it wasn’t enough to pull me away from surfing the ‘net.