What is interesting about “Surrogates” is the setting, which is, unfortunately, not the focus. The film presents a somewhat plausible strategy to achieving a Utopian society through technology and invention. It is 2017, and humans have finally done something to make the world a safe place for the paranoid — and perhaps the lethargic. Humans never emerge from the safety of their homes and instead live vicariously through remote-controlled robots called surrogates, disguised as themselves — or not, as in the classic case of Ms. Blonde-is-really-a-fat middle-aged-man-in-a-wife-beater.
But it doesn’t matter who they really are. The point is you can be whoever you want to be and do anything you want to do. The surrogates are clean-shaven, fit, polished and perfect, compared to their aged, decrepit, gray-haired and ashen-faced organic counterparts. Debauchery is widespread and the sores of society have been cured. Racism, violence, crime and fear have been wiped away. Even the protagonist, FBI Agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis, “Live Free or Die Hard”) has to ask his boss when the last time an “actual” murder happened, to which he gets no reply.
Which is what brings us to the point. When the son of the man credited for inventing surrogates is found dead in his chair as a direct result of his surrogate being dispatched by a man brandishing a mysterious weapon, the “surrogacy” lifestyle and the safety of all humanity is thrown in jeopardy.
Director Jonathon Mostow and writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who previously teamed up for another film involving robots, humans and the future — the average-at-best “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” — unite for another film that devotes too much time to the action rather than the substance.
Agent Greer ditches his surrogate rather early in the film after an encounter with the man and the mysterious weapon, but that is not the only reason he chooses to “live dangerously.” He begins to lose touch with what is real and what is just a hoax. His wife, Maggie (Rosamund Pike, “Pride & Prejudice”), in contrast, couldn’t be more comfortable with this lifestyle.
Willis’s performance is stale, but it’s all it could be. Building off a 2006 five-issue comic book of the same name, Brancato and Ferris, who also teamed up for the better but not all that great, “Terminator: Salvation” and the thoroughly berated “Catwoman,” turn in an actor-restricting script. We learn nothing of the protagonist’s personality, and a lack of character depth also pervades throughout — but perhaps that was the intention. Either way, when Greer’s frustration breaks and he beats a surrogate with his fists to vent, we respond with confusion.
We know through surrogates the humans can still experience the five senses. They can touch, feel, smell, see and hear. But what we never quite learn is if the humans are missing out on anything real. Is sex life a little mundane? By the way, how do surrogates, or humans for that matter, do that?
Nevertheless, a faction of humans, known as The Dreads, has rejected surrogacy and still remain. They live autonomously from the rest of society. When a surrogate enters their zone, even a cop, they respond with deep hostility. Led by a man known only as The Prophet, played by the smooth Ving Rhames (“I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”), The Dreads intend to erase surrogates from the earth and spark the rebirth of mankind. Rhames, despite his trademark aloofness, spits out the film’s worst and most generic dialogue as the revolutionary.
A theme of losing touch with humanity at the cost of living forever is present throughout, but the writers weren’t able to establish a human connection between the audience and characters, which is the ultimate failure. The audience hardly cares for Greer, who we know almost nothing about and audiences sure as hell don’t care about anybody else. In 89 minutes, that’s tough for anybody to do.
Everyone in the cast does deserve credit for the portrayal of robots-as-realistic-humans, which could be credited to Mostow. They are all quite human in their surrogates, but there is something eerily out of place. What is behind all those face-lifts and baby-soft skin? Where did the real humans go?
“Surrogates” is set up like chess: ingenious and thought-intensive. It has the potential for so many topics to be explored. Instead, it dips into action and chase and becomes as cheesy as “Mouse Trap.”
2 stars out of 5.