Surrogates (2009)

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

Director:

Jonathan Mostow

Writers:

Michael Ferris (screenplay), John Brancato (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Greer
Radha Mitchell	...	Peters
Rosamund Pike	...	Maggie
Boris Kodjoe	...	Stone
James Francis Ginty	...	Canter
James Cromwell	...	Older Canter
Ving Rhames	...	The Prophet
Jack Noseworthy	...	Strickland
Devin Ratray	...	Bobby
Michael Cudlitz	...	Colonel Brendon
Jeffrey De Serrano	...	Armando
Helena Mattsson	...	JJ the Blonde
Michael Philip	...	Uniformed Cop
Danny F Smith	...	Victim (as Danny Smith)
Brian A. Parrish	...	Hard Hat (as Brian Parrish)

Storyline

People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates -- sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.

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Plot Keywords:

fbi agent | future | robot | murder | android | 

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Taglines:

Human perfection. What could go wrong?

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene

Details

Official Sites:

Choose Your Surrogate.com Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Clones

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£961,271 (UK) (25 September 2009)

Gross:

$38,542,418 (USA) (27 November 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Mandeville Films, Top Shelf Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the "beauty shop" where Maggie works a device can be seen for holding the "faces" of surrogates, the device is actually a Gorillapod, a flexible tripod for cameras.

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Goofs

After Greer crashes his own car into the boutique and escapes down an alley. He see's a man in a gray suit get out of his own car and walk to the front of the car. Greer then jumps in the drivers seat and as he drives off, you see the original driver, but now he is wearing a black suit and is now running back from behind the car, where previously he was in front of it, shouting at Greer.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Prophet: Look at yourselves. Unplug from your chairs, get up and look in the mirror. What you see is how God made you. We're not meant to experience the world through a machine.

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Connections

Referenced in Community: Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking (2011)

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Soundtracks

Election Campaign
Written by Jack Waldenmaier
Performed by Jack Waldenmaier
Courtesy of SmartSound Software, Inc.

User Reviews

A sci-fi concept well examined despite predictable story patterns

With the number of mainstream movies centered around a future human dependency on robots, it would be incredibly stupid if we actually let that happen. "Surrogates" is the latest of these concepts and surprisingly one of the more well thought-out ones. Based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, "Surrogates" imagines a world where humans interact with the world solely through robot versions of themselves called surrogates. They don't have to leave their homes and are impervious to danger.

Writers Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, who previously collaborated with director Jonathan Mostow on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and sadly also wrote the Halle Berry "Catwoman," do their best work with this script, which is of course not saying much. The positive here is that they truly embrace and explored the possibilities of a word where people don't interact with people -- just the robot versions of themselves. It's the saving grace of the film.

Bruce Willis stars as a homicide detective assigned to the very first case on record where the actual human operator of a surrogate died when the surrogate was killed. With nearly all of the planet using surrogates, any knowledge of danger would throw the world into panic. Willis -- Det. Greer -- must track down the weapon that did the damage. When his surrogate is destroyed, Greer begins to re-examine life through non-virtual eyes.

Without question, however, the concept and the setting are far more clever than the script. Ironically like robots, when you boil down the exterior of "Surrogates," it's composed of overused clichés and recycled components of Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick stories. The simple premise and thoroughly conceived world of "Surrogates" manages to override some lousy story lines and character development, but I'm not sure that most viewers who come to "Surrogates" looking for more action and less high-concept science fiction will be able to say the same.

The subplots and back stories given to Greer and other characters are throw-away. At 89 minutes long, "Surrogates" offers just enough in terms of story development to be a glorified TV detective show set in the future. The twists are foreseeable and the character motivations barely scratched at, but it keeps your attention and stays focused enough on the central story that you never have to actually dwell on the more hollow elements of the film. The venerable James Cromwell, who plays the disgruntled inventor of surrogates, has never looked more shallow in a role, but it's hardly of any consequence.

Sci-fi epiphany? None here, but a well-calculated exploration of a possible new technology - - yes. "Surrogates" is not mindless fun, but it's not artistic science fiction perfected to a tee either. It does just enough to intrigue the future-curious mind with a different cut from the same robot mold.

~Steven C

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