A scientist's drive for artificial intelligence takes on dangerous implications when his own consciousness is uploaded into one such program.A scientist's drive for artificial intelligence takes on dangerous implications when his own consciousness is uploaded into one such program.A scientist's drive for artificial intelligence takes on dangerous implications when his own consciousness is uploaded into one such program.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 5 nominations
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaContinuing his outspoken advocacy for the use of film stock over digital formats, cinematographer Wally Pfister not only chose to shoot the film in the anamorphic format on 35mm film instead of on a digital camera, but also finished the film photochemically, refusing to use a digital intermediate.
- GoofsWill Caster is killed by the highly toxic radio-active element, Polonium (the same one used to murder Alexander Litvinenko in true-life in 2006). Despite its toxicity (scientists estimate that 1 gram could kill 50 million people), his wife and friends are allowed to remain with him in close proximity until his death. Whilst intact skin is actually a barrier to the passage of alpha radiation particles to a nearby person (so we could let them off this goof), we later see Caster's cremated ashes being tossed into the breeze above a river for all to breath in. These are hardly actions that any homeland security or radiation expert would conceivably have allowed to happen.
- Quotes
Will Caster: For 130,000 years, our capacity to reason has remained unchanged. The combined intellect of the neuroscientists, mathematicians and... hackers... in this auditoirum pales in comparison to the most basic A.I. Once online, a sentient machine will quickly overcome the limits of biology. And in a short time, its analytic power will become greater than the collective intelligence of every person born in the history of the world. So imagine such an entity with a full range of human emotion. Even self-awareness. Some scientists refer to this as "the Singularity." I call it "Transcendence."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Half in the Bag: Transcendence and the Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
- SoundtracksGenesis
Written by Jorma Kaukonen
Performed by Jorma Kaukonen
Courtesy of RCA Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Featured review
This seems like wasted potential
Transcendence, much like most of the latest sci-fi themed films to hit cinemas, is a wasted effort. It exhibits signature Pfister cinematography that we've come to love over the past decade. With Nolan's Batman trilogy and Inception, it was only a matter of time for Wally Pfister to take a stab at directing. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems well done in this film is the cinematography. The story, while seeming fresh and exciting on paper, devolves into a half baked idea with mediocre acting. Johnny Depp does the best he can while only being a mere voice during the latter half of the film. The rest of the cast seems wasted, this is especially true because we know how great Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman and Rebecca Hall can be. Wally Pfister focuses more on capturing really fantastic shots but seems never truly devoted to the actual story. This comes as a major disappointment especially because of the hype that this film has been generating over the last year. When it boils down to it, Transcendence is just another exercise in style over substance, never matriculating to anything more than an average sci-fi thriller that has a criminally underused cast and phenomenal camera-work.
helpful•361195
- trublu215
- Apr 18, 2014
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Trí Tuệ Siêu Việt
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $23,022,309
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,886,386
- Apr 20, 2014
- Gross worldwide
- $103,039,258
- Runtime1 hour 59 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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