Surrogates (Touchstone Pictures)
The Robot Did It
Watching the futuristic Bruce Willis thriller Surrogates is like seeing a future where everyone is a Stepford person. Thats because in this film all the people who are visible in the outside world are flesh covered robots who do the bidding of their masters/mistresses who are safe within the confines of their homes and are guiding the robots through mind thoughts. It is a brave new world and one where comfort and safety have overridden a desire to be involved and part of life.
Tom Greer (Willis) is a cop. He and his partner Peters (Rhada Mitchell) both use robots to do their leg work. At the start of the film they are summoned to a double homicide where two robots were dismantled. This would be only a minor problem but in this case the humans behind the robots were also killed.
The man killed turns out to have been the son of a man named Canter (James Cromwell) who was the genius behind the invention of the mind controlled robots. The death weapon was a gun which not only kills the robots but can go back to the source and kill the masters.
The audience learns early on that Tom is a man with deep psychological scars. He and his wife Maggie had a son who was killed in a car wreck. Since that time Maggie (Rosamund Pike) only ventures outside her bedroom door through her robot. Tom usually uses his robot but though a twist of circumstances he ventures out to investigate this crime himself.
Willis is solid as Tom but he doesnt get to give him much of a life. This man is either depressed or beaten up in all the scenes of the film. He truly takes a lickin but keeps on tickin. Pike is glacial and aloof as Maggie, Toms wife. She is flawlessly beautiful but since she is in robotic form for most of the film she is almost totally non-emotional.
The special effects in the film are good with the robots stopping sometimes in mid stride to be put on Pause. They also possess superhuman abilities as robots, jumping over cars, taking physical abuse, etc.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
The film is glossy and slick with the actors doing good jobs to bring the story to life realistically. Still there is something missing; something hard-edged that would pull the plot up to a higher level. That elusive something never appears and the movie ends up being middle of the road good. It is a fun but fleeting film, meaning it doesnt make an imprint on your mind.
I scored Surrogates a copy-cat 5 out of 10.
