Surrogates

I'm not quite sure what my deal is with Bruce Willis this month. This is the third film in about three days with him in it. Fire with Fire was definitely on purpose, GI Joe was because I had to watch the sequel and this one was because I'm in that not too distant future mood.

Surrogates is set in a world where the technology to transmit brain waves to control machines has been invented. Because of this, the United States has created Surrogates, robots in which people can control a human replica of themselves. Now almost everyone in the world utilizes surrogates to live life to the fullest. These surrogates have few limitations and it also provides safety for humans.

Enter Tom Greer (played by Willis) who is an FBI agent already dissatisfied with the life of surrogacy but does it out of convenience and social normativity.

Oh... and he also has blonde hair... not quite sure why he went that way with his robot but... you know... its Bruce Willis, he can do whatever the hell he wants.

He is called it because two surrogates are murdered by a new weapon that fries the circuits and kills the operator as well.

This is new for the FBI as the murder rates have plummeted since the use of surrogates have risen. To have a weapon that kills operators suddenly creates a big problem.

Thus begins the crime procedural in order to find the killer, and unravel the conspiracy behind the murders.

Along the way, Greer meets the victims father, the creator of surrogates, (played by James Cromwell).

He also experiences the Dredds, a society violently against the use of surrogates, headed up by Ving Rhames, or the Prophet as he's called.

I think this was part of the reason I was interested in this movie was because I wanted to see Rhames in something that wasn't Mission Impossible. However, I felt as though the Prophet was incredibly under utilized.

Eventually, Greer's surrogate is destroyed and he has to enter the world with his actual body. Its fascinating seeing the effect that has on him and the looks he gets when he's in society.

One of the draw backs of the movie is that the surrogates look like life size barbies. Again, I'm not sure why Bruce Willis or the costume director wanted to make Bruce Willis have blonde feathered hair but he looks like the super butch Ken life size doll.

But without the surrogate, Willis looks like toss up shit. Everyone operating the surrogates look as though they are super sick because some way or another, everyone agreed to become shut ins, delving into their avatar character and giving up on everything "real".

Now there are a couple things like that in this film that you may have to overlook and suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the film.

It does however create a pretty good dynamic between Willis and his wife. (played by Rosamund Pike)

And dear lord is she not absolutely gorgeous in this film.

I don't know if I mentioned this in my Jack Reacher review, but I want to see Rosamund Pike in more. She's gorgeous, I think she's a decent enough actress. Why is she not in more stuff?

There's a subplot that Willis is worried that his wife has become too connected to the world of her surrogate that he feels distant from her. And it doesn't help that their child was killed in a car accident, an incident that could have been avoided by the use of a surrogate.

The subplot with his wife, while done decently, often felt out of place. You'd have a lot of stuff working towards the solving of the mystery and then you'd have the dilemmas between him and his wife and in the end it really doesn't amount to much. It feels more as if the movie takes a little bit of an unnecessary pause in order to harp on the personal problems of these two.

Its also kind of weird that Bruce Willis is a good 20 years older than Rosamund Pike.

Even unplugged, while she looks older, Bruce Willis looks a lot older than she does. That must have been a strange wedding.

The movie really does create an interesting world. Yes its very unlikely that the entire world would just agree to shut themselves in and become engulfed in the world run by surrogates but its an interesting concept to visualize and it provides for some fun sequences, interesting circumstances these surrogates are put into, and some sweet action.

I saw this movie with my dad a long time ago. I'm not quite sure what prompted us to go see this movie but I liked it then and I like it now.

Yes, its not the best movie ever made, not even by Sci Fi standards. However, it gets a solid B+ for its original ideas and solid performances all around. This is the first movie out of all the Bruce Willis movies I've reviewed this month where Bruce Willis doesn't look totally bored.

I gotta watch more Die Hard because that was fun just to see Willis let loose and have fun with a role. These last few movies, even this one just seem to be movies he's doing just to get a paycheck. I want to see some effort Bruce. C'mon.

So those are my thoughts on Surrogates. What did you think of it? Let me know and comment below!

I'll leave you with this. Did you know Bruce Willis sings? Yeah, he's actually not that bad. Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Enjoy!