Released: 2009
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time: 1:29
So, here we have a Bruce Willis, sci-fi "utopia gone wrong" film, which is sort of in my wheelhouse. Did I like it? Well, of course I liked it. Willis stars as Tom Greer, a police detective in a world where no one ever leaves their house any more. People just place themselves in these consoles where they hook up to surrogates, robotic alter-egos that may or may not be duplicates of themselves. Originally developed for the military, the surrogates have become all the rage in the private sector, bringing a massive decrease in crime rates. When a surrogate is "killed", leading to its owner also dying, we have the first murder-through-surrogate and the opening of a grand conspiracy. Greer decides to leave his surrogate behind and investigate this one the old-fashioned way, which presents challenges as no one he comes in contact with is actually human. Greer is in a race against the clock as he begins to learn that this goes much deeper than just one surrogate/human murder. The movie moves along at a nice clip with its requisite action sequences and a pretty decent storyline. Is it somewhat over-the-top and far fetched? Sure. I mean, EVERYONE has a surrogate and they appear to be pretty expensive. How can the general public afford them?? Also, despite the utopian slant of this post-surrogate world, we see battle surrogates in use by the army in some unnamed war. If everything is so "perfect", why are they still at war? with who? Despite these shortcomings, I just had fun watching this movie and I always love watching Bruce Willis do what he does best. There was also a subplot where Willis and his wife are having some trouble dealing with the loss of their son, so that kind of hit home for me.
Grade: C+
Trailer:
