hopetorley Interesting movie. Bruce Willis in an unusual role. The man is multi-talented.

sol- In a future in which nobody leaves their home, instead traveling from place to place in linked-in surrogate robots, it is up to an overworked policeman to solve a crime by leaving his home without a surrogate in this intriguing science fiction thriller starring Bruce Willis. The film is jam-packed with interesting ideas (surrogates prevent accidental deaths; surrogates can be upgraded for extra agility) and the glimpse into a society inundated with this craze is fascinating with obvious parallels to internet avatars and virtual reality programs today. There are some personal identity issues too and the film gets a lot of mileage from contrasting how different the users look to their surrogates. The makeup used to reverse-age Willis is especially remarkable. The thriller plot that develops is unfortunately never quite as interesting as the set-up and the plethora of unanswered questions (particularly regarding the health and fitness of the homebound users) leave an uneasy taste in the mouth, but this is nevertheless an undeniably entertaining ride. There is a particularly good action sequence with Radha Mitchell jumping between rooftops of moving cars; in fact, Mitchell gives the film's most interesting performance as her surrogate is hijacked and she begins to act ever-so-differently and yet without any of her colleagues catching on. Willis has done better before and this is not the sort of film to really maximise his acting prowess. His sadness over his son's death resonates though, and all the more so since the accidental death could have been prevented had the son been using a surrogate.

James Quirke I rated this film a little better than it's current IMDb rating (6.3). The premise of a futuristic world where people now live their lives in an almost wholly virtual manner is positively Cartesian and for this alone it deserves some credit in my opinion. The film tries to flesh out (pun intended), through Bruce Willis's character, some sort of lesson with regards to what it means to be real, to be human and to truly live and feel. In a strange new world where almost everyone is now living their actual lives in a reclusive state, hidden in their own homes but continuing to venture out into the real world in virtual form through the use of a robot or Surrogate, one cop(Bruce Willis) is forced to go rouge/off grid in order to track down a murder who has somehow gotten hold of a device that can destroy/kill both robots and the person controlling them at the time. The case leads him to come into contact both directly and indirectly through various surrogate forms with the father of one of the victims, who as it tuns out is a reclusive billionaire and the father/inventor of Surrogate technology. As the story unfolds, we learn that the cop has also lost a son in the past and that this is one possible reason he and his wife choose to live their lives in robot form. We see too that once he goes off- line there is a personal desire on his part to reconnect with his estranged wife (who happens to live/ exist in the very same apartment as him) in her human form rather than her robot form but she like most people is resistant to the idea and fearful of how real her feelings of loss and fear will become if she unplugs. Through a couple of expected twists the film ends with a him saving the day but then being given a choice between making the world/ peoples experiences of it 'real' again (despite the pain, suffering and inconvenience it may cause some people) and allowing it to continue in the vain, superficial /artificial and emotionally and physically removed form it has taken. The lesson I think it that it is this pain as well as the joy we experience that makes life unique, life was never meant to be this easy. Ultimately it is only in the doing, the being and the experiencing of all of it ,both good and bad, that life becomes 'real' and so worth living.

darth-tobe Science fiction is often used to illustrate current problems. So, this movie seems to be a modern retelling of the story of the land of Cockaigne. And like the medieval stories it heavy-handedly drives home the lesson about the Land of Plenty being a blessing and a curse.To start with, I liked the visual style, how the Surrogates look all polished and seem to correspond to how people would like to see themselves. I also liked the idea of anonymity, that - like Internet avatars - a Surrogate could be anyone and gives you no clue as to who is operating it. Interesting as these premises may be they quickly fell apart. There are so many things that do not seem to make sense, even within the plot's own world.Without giving away too much here are a few points that may also occur to you during the early parts of the film.If people depend on their Surrogates for everything, even household tasks, and hardly go out anymore why do their muscles not completely atrophy? Haven't they watched Wall-E?How could this advanced robotic technology and neural interfaces (Surrogates are thought controlled) have been developed within 14 years (as stated in the opening) and have become so cheap that the average Joe or Jane can afford them? And if so why is this technology not used for controlling other machines?Logically, for every new development there are those that oppose it. I thought they would be like everyone else just that they reject Surrogate technology. Why would they look like survivors of an apocalypse, live in abandoned building compounds, seemingly also reject all other technology and also be armed to the teeth and ready to go to war?And why does the main character have to be coping with some family tragedy only to illustrate that using Surrogates is bad for you?This was the list after about 20% of the film. Sadly it did not get any better. The science fiction setting has not been thought through. The murder mystery tries half-heartedly to be complex but offers few surprises and fails to deliver as little as a plausible motive. Characters just find clues because they do. In the end there is not even enough sci-fi action to support the film since Bruce Willis is not the youngest anymore and also plays a character who is very vulnerable among all the robots. Wait, does that not sound familiar? Actually, quite a number of elements seem to have been lifted straight from I, Robot. The inventor of the robots is even played by the same actor. Maybe that is it: go watch I, Robot instead.