Surrogates
PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene
What if everyone lived out their entire lives by looking at a screen and trusting machines to do everything for them? Oh, wait, we already do that. But what if you also had a cool, robot version of yourself to go to work and school and the park while you just sat in a chair at home and worked the controls? It would be like Second Life if you lived inside the box and your avatar lived in the real world. (Not sure that sounds like a good time.)
The Story
It's the future, right? And everyone -- except for the drop-outs and protesters -- everyone has a robot version of themselves called a surrogate. It's better-looking and stronger than you. It doesn't get sick. If it breaks, you just get it fixed. You sit in a chair at home and "experience" the world remotely through your robot's eyes, ears, and movements.
The good news: Crime is nearly non-existant. Society is safer, smarter, faster, freer. The bad news should be obvious if you've ever seen any sci-fi movies about robots. Eventually, something always goes wrong. In this case, a new weapon has been invented that, when it kills your robot, it also kills you.
Enter police detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) -- or enter his surrogate and that of his female partner (Radha Mitchell). Thanks to CGI magic, Greer's surrogate looks like a cross between Bruce Willis and a Ken doll. Back at home, though, he's the oldest version of Willis you've ever seen in a movie and a little paunchy. And he's been going through a hard season with his wife (Rosamund Pike) since the death of their young son.
Greer's mission is to figure out where this weapon is and why someone is using it to try to kill Dr. Cantor (James Cromwell), the inventor of surrogates. In the wrong hands, the weapon could bring down society completely, because nobody would feel safe jacked in to their surrogates -- and how could we survive without the surrogates?
But we could survive, of course. That's exactly what surrogate protestors around the globe are doing, sequestered on their lawless surrogate-free reservations. Commonly known as "meatbags," they're lead by an old guy known as The Prophet (Ving Rhames). The Prophet believes the whole idea of surrogates is evil. Is he the one trying to kill Cantor? If he has the weapon, what will he do with it?
Good thing we have a flesh-and-blood action hero in the house.
The Verdict
What we thought of the movie on its own terms
What Works: Who doesn't love Bruce Willis in an action movie, especially a sci-fi action movie? Well, I like him, even if it's in this kind of a silly, brightly-colored vision of our technology-addicted future selves. There are just enough big and novel ideas here to give just enough heft to the action scenes to make you care just enough to try to figure out what's going on until the movie is over. It's a mild, forgettable action story, but it's not an annoying one.
What Doesn't Work: Okay, so I pretty much gave up trying to figure it all out during the last 10 or 15 minutes, especially when some of it stopped making any sense. And most of those big ideas are borrowed from other, better sci-fi stories like "Blade Runner," "Logan's Run," "Terminator," and even "The Picture of Dorian Gray." (But the pieces still fit together in an interesting way that reflects our current tech-addicted society just enough to matter. More below.)
Content: Robot surrogates that look like people get bashed, shot, run over, and blasted in the eyes by that super-weapon. When that happens, their operators back home also die with lots of blood from their burned out eye sockets. Willis gets pummeled repeatedly, contributing to his tough, older guy look. One character commits suicide. It is strongly suggested that the surrogates are used for all kinds of sexual activities and many are revealingly dressed. God's and Jesus' names are used for swearing, along with other harsh language.
Worldview
How the film's take on life compares to a biblical perspective
Honestly, I wonder more and more lately if all the time I spend on the Internet and in front of screens doing my work and my play and my social networking is starting to take a toll on my brain and the way I think. Could it be changing who I am?
I resonate with that now-famous Atlantic article from last year called, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" It's long, but worth the time if you're concerned at all if and how we're being changed by being constantly jacked into the Web. (I read it on my iPhone.)
So when this silly sci-fi movie hints at the serious idea that we might be on the road to losing touch with what it means to be human because so much of what we do is virtual and disconnected from fresh air and eye contact, I kind of resonate with that, too. Some days, I wouldn't mind if the whole system came crashing down -- for about an hour. Then I'd start to get itchy and wonder about the future of civilization.
Bottom line: The awesome power and problem of the Internet and exploding new technologies requires intelligence to understand, but it requires a lot of something else to manage in our daily lives: wisdom. More than ever before, we need wisdom.
And there's only one source of wisdom. No, it's not Wikipedia. The Bible says that wisdom comes from God. We find it when we look at the universe from His perspective in Scripture. We find it when we submit to His direction for us even if we don't understand it completely because we trust Him more than we trust Google. And James 1 tells us that we find it when we ask Him for it.
We need wisdom to know how to plug in, what to do with the avalanche of ideas and words and statuses that come pouring out at us, and we need wisdom to know when to go outside or go eat a sandwich and look at the wall or go talk to someone with real, actual bad breath for an hour.
Google is garbage without wisdom to know what to do with all that information. Where are you plugging into that?
Oh, and look out for the robots. They're evil.
Questions
Do you like anything about the idea of living your life through a cool-looking robot surrogate? What would you do with yours?
If you had a surrogate like that, what would you want it to look like? It seems like some people would have made theirs to look like animals or, you know, robots. How about you?
Does Bruce Willis help make movies like this one better -- or is he too distracting because he's always Bruce Willis?
Some research shows that more teens are becoming addicted to the Internet. Other studies suggest a link between Internet addiction and depression in teens. Have you ever wondered if you're addicted to the Internet or other technology? Have you ever noticed how using technology impacts your mood?
Where do you find the wisdom to help you to manage all of the information you must process every day? (If you need some, start here: Proverbs 1. James 1. Proverbs 9.)
Comments
Victoria Real Estate on Mar 11, 2010 said...
Victoria Real Estate
I wouldn’t mind if the whole system came crashing down—for about an hour. Then I’d start to get itchy and wonder about the future of civilization.
painters and decorators manchester on Mar 10, 2010 said...
painters and decorators manchester
d we need wisdom to know when to go outside or go eat a sandwich and look at the wall or go talk to someone with real, actual bad breath for an hour.