“Surrogates” is a sci-fi overload with a futuristic society turned robotic and high-tech, but a little predictable.

A mish-mash of previous sci-fi fantasy movies, with robots, science, and technology… ”Surrogates” confronts issues of technology replacing human interaction with the world.   Its a little heavy-handed and obvious, but also entertaining.
 

(My spoiler-free review)

Set in the near future, humans plug into robots of their likeness – the result is lower crime crates, no racism, fewer diseases, etc. but there’s a growing resistance to the technology that have made things even more perilous than before.

The filmmakers play their message (whether intended or coincidental) with a very slick package of effects and technology while drawing a very clear line between the surrogates and the real people they represent.   The surrogates are very healthy looking and vibrant, basically perfect, albeit plastic while the real people they resemble are older and sickly and flawed.

Bruce Willis is FBI Agent Tom Greer, who is investigating the first homicide in years, and as he investigates outside of his surrogate, he falls further down the proverbial the rabbit hole of this fantasy.

James Cromwell is good as the creator of the surrogates (a similiar role to his character in “I, Robot” (2004), Rosamund Pike brings some believability to the role of Greer’s wife, and Ving Rhames is good as the leader of the resistance, but while the other actors do well to appear robotic – the roles lack any true heart that makes you care about what happens to them… and caring about all the characters becomes critical to the climatic point of the movie… which is undercut by this lack of connection and caring with the audience.

The movie accomplishes a lot in a short period of time… a futuristic society that is different from ours in many ways, plus a resistance group that opposes this futuristic way of life.      But it also creates more questions in the end: if there are non-surrogate robots (like we see at FBI) to do mediocre jobs and everyone is perfect, why are people still doing those jobs and if the real people never come out of their rooms into the real world… how are their homes so spotless?

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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What Just Happened is an awkward look at making movies through the life of a producer losing his foothold in the industry.

This was a different way to tell to tell a story… as a credit to the moviemakers, it felt more like a reality show or documentary than a movie… but I’m still not sure whether I like it or not.

 “What Just Happened”

(2008) (rated: R for language, some violent images, sexual content and some drug material) (1 hr, 44 min)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Catherine Keener, Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, Michael Wincott, Moon Bloodgood

Director: Barry Levinson – “Man of the Year” (2006), “Sphere” (1998), “Wag the Dog” (1997), “Rain Man” (1988), “Good Morning, Vietnam” (1987), “The Natural” (1984)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

The Plot: Two weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer who’s having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.

MY TAKE:

Robert DeNiro’s character has serious problems.  So does this movie.

In some ways, the movie was very good… the pacing, the acting, the awkward tension and living the life of a man who’s career is spiraling out of control.

But the movie focuses so much on the inner workings of Hollywood, that it doesn’t have mainstream appeal… there are a lot of inside references as the movie pokes fun at Hollywood that is lost on wider audiences.

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