Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 9, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
One of the cool things about science fiction is how it’s able to explore ideas no other kind of story could. Just take a situation in the present and project it into the future to show what the world would look like if things continue along the current path.
The movie “Surrogates,” for example, takes the phenomenon of anonymous social interaction via online avatars to an extreme level. Today, you’re a Level 30 Night Elf in “World of Warcraft”; tomorrow, you’re reclining in your cyberseat as you guide a robotic version of yourself through what used to be your life.
Bruce Willis stars as Tom Greer, an FBI agent who must not have much to do, since an opening monologue tells us the widespread use of surrogates has all but eliminated crime. His surrogate looks like a John “Die Hard” McClane doll with a blonde wig, while his real self is more than a few clicks past middle age.
Initially, Greer enlists his surrogate in an investigation of the murder of the son of the scientist who created surrogates. But when Greer’s surrogate is destroyed during a visit to a human colony, he takes to the streets in the flesh.
“Surrogates” doesn’t dig too deeply, though. Director Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3”) starts out on the right foot, showing what a world filled with surrogates would look like, but then settles into a mundane police procedural almost immediately. Even the action, which is well shot, fails to generate much of a pulse.
There are two nicely executed scenes in “Surrogates,” however. In one, Greer guides his surrogate into his bedroom; looks at his real body, which is jacked into his cyberseat; shuts down his robotic double; and then gets out of his chair. When he goes to his wife’s bedroom, her surrogate looks at him with barely concealed disgust.
The other sequence involves Greer shutting down the worldwide network that controls all surrogates, causing the robots to simultaneously fall down, like a mass narcoleptic attack. I liked the metallic thunk of all that fake flesh hitting the ground.
So while “Surrogates” has its moments, it avoids the more interesting questions its premise raises. Does technology have the potential to isolate us? How much of our humanity are we willing to sacrifice for a vicarious experience? And why is “Die Hard” the last truly great Bruce Willis film? Perhaps we’ll have the answers — someday.
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After watching “Pandorum,” another new science fiction movie, I wanted to eviscerate it with words, spilling its guts with a few quick slices of verbal disdain and then smearing them all over this page for everyone to see. But the more I thought about the film, the more I wanted to give it another shot.
The opening minutes of “Pandorum” are brilliant. The first thing viewers see is the vastness of space, as though they’re looking at the night sky without the rest of the world around them. A few seconds later, a relatively small spaceship comes into view at the bottom right corner of the screen, creating an overwhelming sense of isolation.
Viewers are then taken inside the ship, where a military man is coming out of suspended animation. He looks terrified as he spills onto the floor, covered in a gooey liquid that looks like afterbirth. A man we assume to be his superior officer is revived a few minutes later, then the ship shakes violently and the lights blink.
Neither man can remember who they are or why they are there, but they agree they have to act fast if they want to stay alive.
What a fantastic set up! Unfortunately, everything that follows, up until the last 10 minutes of the movie, squanders any good will you’re feeling at that point. My complaints include:
The action scenes, in which the director of photography shakes the camera really hard and the editor pieces together the already incomprehensible footage into a montage of blurs and vague visual impressions.
The way the story progresses, with rabid humanoid creatures crawling out of the shadows and attacking the crew, leaving us to wonder what they are and how they came to be on the ship.
Additional human characters come into play as well with little to no exposition. The scatterbrained dialogue clarifies nothing.
The audio, which suggests that in space, small movements make loud sounds. Surprises, such as someone appearing behind you, make really loud sounds.
The acting. Hayden Christianson of “Star Wars” fame should be ashamed and Dennis Quaid, who I thought was above this kind of film, shows he isn’t.
I have no objections, though, to the ending, which surprised me and almost made me glad I sat through everything else. Almost.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.
com.
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