Today’s quick review: Surrogates. In the near future, remote-controlled robotic duplicates called Surrogates have all but eliminated face-to-face interaction. But when the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of Surrogates, is murdered, FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) is faced with a terrifying prospect: a weapon that can kill humans remotely through their Surrogates.
Surrogates is a science fiction action movie with a strong concept and moderate execution. The premise of Surrogates is quintessential sci-fi: the extrapolation of the effects of a hypothetical technology on society. The safety and convenience of robotic doubles have turned the world into addicts and shut-ins, robbing society of its soul even as crime and disease rates plummet.
Tom Greer makes for a useful perspective character, a law enforcement officer who comes to view Surrogates with skepticism as a result of his investigation. On one side is his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike), who mourns the death of their son with pills and a shallow, Surrogate-fueled lifestyle. On the other hand is the Prophet (Ving Rhames), the leader of an aggressive faction of anti-Surrogate protesters. With neither extreme appealing, Tom must make up his own mind.
Surrogates’ main failing is its length. Clocking in at barely an hour and a half, Surrogates hits the plot points it wants to and then wraps up. The result is a complete but not very deep murder mystery. What character development there is gets handled well but offers no surprises. The action sequences are fast-paced and take advantage of the superhuman Surrogates, but are limited in frequency and scope. As such, Surrogates reaches only some of its potential.
Watch Surrogates if you are an action sci-fi fan looking for a short, decent watch. For a more entertaining, action-packed take on a similar premise, check out I, Robot instead.
6.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for the framework of a good sci-fi film with only some of the execution.