Drew's

Date Reviewed	10/2/2009
Title	Surrogates
Rating
Directed By :	Johnathan Mostow
Starring :	Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Boris Kodjoe, Ving Rhames, Rosamund Pike, Jack Noseworthy & James Francis Ginty
Review	“Surrogates” is a take on computers, vanity and security in the future as the human race has changed to a 98% reclusive society. In a world of advertising, marketing, self esteem crushing and competitive nature, men and women live entirely at home as people’s surrogate robots co-exist in public. You can be anyone you want to be as long as you’re someone else. The user practices self lock down in a room connected to a machine that helps control your action figure. In the film “The Matrix”, players were strapped in a chair so they could connect to the outside or dream destinations. It’s quite similar as people are fixed in a seat as their representative performs the bulk of the living. Both films have sequences where if you die outside your man made safe haven, you perish in your comfortable lounge chair too. This unforeseen error has many disturbed. The purpose of this entire experiment is to reduce crime, murder and other poor human behavioral traits. Bruce Willis stars as Tom Greer, a police officer that loses his robot to humans that won’t convert over to the new technology. He is somewhat forced as the real Tom Greer to re-enter the workforce as his human self. James Cromwell co-stars as Canter, the evil genius behind the creation of these human replicas. Radha Mitchell joins the fantasy as Peters, Tom’s criminal enforcing partner. There is a side story involving Tom’s pill popping petrified wife. She won’t even approach her husband in their same house in her normal form and uses her surrogate for just about everything. Her fears, internal torment and low confidence levels force her into a hermit’s life marinating in numbness. This is a common special effects pursuit film. The budget is expensive so the accessories are flashy, dazzling and curious. It’s a bit a “Mad Max” and “The Matrix” mixed with “Minority Report.” James Cromwell seems to be type cast as either a high ranking authority figure or a devious old ivory villain. The only reasons not to walk out would be the eye catching technology gadgets and the box office hero Bruce Willis. Even though he is far from a versatile actor, he has a John Wayne presence on screen. It’s almost better when he doesn’t recite lines. It’s a story that seems all too familiar and unoriginal. How many times did I check my cell phone’s clock during the feature? If you think about using your valuable time and money for a ticket to this film, remember Michael Jackson and “Beat It.” Drew's Reviews, copyright 2009, Drewsmoviereviews.com, property of Drew Bean.