REVIEW: ‘Surrogates’

It’s difficult seeing Bruce Willis in a movie that isn’t necessarily going to be a blockbuster, but that’s precisely what he’s up to in “Surrogates,” a sci-fi thriller that is a surprising throwback to a different age of storytelling.

In the seventeen years leading up to the events in “Surrogates,” a breakthrough in connecting the human brain to a robotic host has led to the vast majority of humanity interacting with the world outside their homes using automated avatars. At work and at play, the Surrogates are the person’s face to the entire world. The robots send back all of the sensations to their host, but if anything goes horribly wrong the robot disconnects the sensory feed. At least, that’s the way the system is designed – so, when two people are found dead in their homes after their Surrogates are attacked, Bruce Willis’ FBI agent is sent to find out why, and fast.

Bruce Willis as Agent Greer

“Surrogates” hearkens back to the classic pulp sci-fi tales of Ray Bradbury or Issac Asimov. There’s a clear message to be gleaned from the robotic misadventures: the more you isolate yourselves, the less human you become in the process. There are colonies of people who have shunned the avatars, living in isolation because they fear the loss of their own humanity. (Their movement is headed up by “The Prophet,” played by a dreadlock-sporting Ving Rhames.) The state-of-the-art effects aside, the story would not be out of place as an episode of “The Outer Limits” or “The Twilight Zone.” “Surrogates” would almost fit on TV as well, with a brief running time just under 90 minutes.

After taking a little time to find its momentum, “Surrogates” is a decent potboiler. Jonathan Mostow (no stranger to using robots as a lead dramatic device, as the director of “Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines”) seemed to have a bit of trouble finding the correct tone, but gets on the right track once Willis’ Agent Greer loses the use of his Surrogate and is forced to get out into the real world.

There’s several areas where viewers will likely want more: not nearly enough time is spent delving into various parts of the world remade by proxy inhabitants, like the humans who have shunned them, or a class structure remade where everyone’s beautifully sculpted and super-strong. It’s not as if the movie was running long, and Mostow didn’t have enough time to dig a little deeper. That, coupled with the miscues in tone at the front of the movie, keep “Surrogates” from being a great movie. It’s entertaining enough for a mid-September release, but had room to be a lot more.