In a not too distant future people become afraid of their lives outsides. In an effort to avoid danger and consequences, they live their lives through the eyes of mind controlled androids. These surrogates are supposed to make life safer. People can live how they want to live, look how they want to look, and experience a life not previously available to them. With supposed multiple fail-safes in place, designed to ‘unplug’ the user before any harm can come to them, it turns out to be a pretty big deal when a weapon is developed that not only fried the surrogate, but also it’s controller.
Bruce Willis, who in my opinion hasn’t been that great lately, plays the role of Tom Greer (the police detective who is charged with finding the devastating weapon) very well. Where he really shines is in the scenes with his on screen wife. A woman who refuses to be seen, even by him, without the use of her surrogate. The movie never comes out and says it, but she was disfigured in an automobile accident. An accident in which their son died. Like many other people, she was using her surrogate as a mask — a way to not feel anything.
I enjoyed Surrogates a lot more than I thought I would. It didn’t break any ground, there was really nothing visually or effect-wise that I hadn’t seen before, and the plot was very predictable — but with the way it was presented I didn’t care. Sure, I saw the twist ending coming the first half hour into the movie but that didn’t mean I didn’t have to enjoy watching it unfold. It also has an ending I thought was a brilliant social statement. No spoilers here. My final score would a solid 7/10.
If you wanted to interpret the movie literally to get a deeper meaning out it, you could certainly see it as a social commentary regarding the rise online and relationships (through social site like Facebook) and the fall of face to face interaction. This would be a stretch, but at the same time a convincing argument.
Plugging In
February 11, 2010
Media