SurrogatesOne of the worst thought-out movies this year for me was Surrogates. I’ll explain in a moment. First, a basic run-down of what happens.

Some years into the future people live their lives through robotic replicas of themselves, called Surrogates, while sitting at home in a “stim chair”, through which they can control their surrogate as if it was them. Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) is an FBI agent who is called to investigate the first murder in many years. The victim was killed when someone destroyed their surrogate. When Tom’s own Surrogate is damaged beyond repair during his investigation, Tom must go out into the real world himself. Subsequently he discovers a web of lies as the conspiracy deepens.

Surrogates feels like a first draft that was never revised. It’s as if they asked some 12-year old to write down some ideas, and then they just went with that. Here are some examples:

  • At the beginning of the movie they state that 99% of the world’s population live their lives through surrogates. So, apparently at least one billion people, who live in poverty, could suddenly afford to buy a high-tech robot, along with a docking station built into their shack somewhere in Africa. And then what? Do they use their surrogate to fetch water every day? I don’t think so.
  • It is also stated that since surrogates were invented, crime has been almost eradicated. Specifically, they say that there hasn’t been a murder in years. So let me see. If I were a criminal, and suddenly I could conduct my crime using a robot, instead of putting my own life on line, I’m sure I wouldn’t just give up my illegal activities. And wouldn’t murder be so much easier? You’d know exactly where everyone was. At home, sitting in their “stim chair”.

Don’t get me wrong. The concept of surrogates is a great idea, but they went with assumptions that don’t make sense at all, and so the whole story is built on a shaky foundation. And the movie was less exciting than I expected. If you look at the trailer, it looks like an action/thriller. But the movie doesn’t have any more action than what is visible in the trailer. The rest is rather slow-paced and not really that interesting.

So, in the end, watching Surrogates was a rather disappointing experience. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless it doesn’t bother you that the basis of the story makes little sense. If you disagree with my thoughts, I’d be interested to hear what you thought; leave a comment below. :-)

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