Blu-Ray Review: Forgotten ‘Surrogates’ Worth Another Look

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CHICAGO – We have grown accustomed to experiencing the world through technology. One of the great gifts cinema grants us is the ability to experience the world vicariously through the lives of others. The reason why mainstream movie stars are unnaturally beautiful and glamorous is because they represent how we’d like to envision ourselves.

Jonathan Mostow’s “Surrogates” takes this concept a step further, imagining a world where humans live vicariously through mechanical bodies that possess superhuman looks and abilities. In essence, people can “become” movie stars without ever having to leave the comfort of their house, allowing their “perfected” self to experience the world without fear of pain or disease. This ingenious premise could not be more relevant in today’s society, where addictions to social networking sites often lead to the deterioration of “face-to-face” relationships.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0

And yet, the film itself has a curious lack of urgency. This may be partly due to the fact that much of the screen time is devoted to the surrogates themselves, played by actors who remain emotionally inert. Yet the bigger problem has to do with the plot (adapted from a graphic novel), which is a routine whodunit consisting of contrived plot twists and noir-style intrigue. With an action star like Bruce Willis in the lead role, the film draws obvious comparisons to “Blade Runner”, and in that vein, it falls very short (Mostow, who also directed “Terminator 3,” is no Ridley Scott).

Radha Mitchell - “SURROGATES” on Blu-ray and DVD. Photo by Richard McIaren.
Radha Mitchell - “SURROGATES” on Blu-ray and DVD.
Photo credit: Richard McIaren

Willis plays an FBI agent investigating the recent murders of people whose surrogates were destroyed by a mysterious attacker. His recent attempts to connect with his distant wife (Rosamund Pike) have failed, since she would rather stay plugged in to her robotic identity.

Radha Mitchell - “SURROGATES” on Blu-ray and DVD. Photo by Richard McIaren.
Radha Mitchell - “SURROGATES” on Blu-ray and DVD.
Photo credit: Richard McIaren

Despite its PG-13 rating, the film gets away with a great deal of graphic violence simply by aiming it at surrogates (whose heads get kicked in and exploded on multiple occasions). The editing by Kevin Stitt (“Cloverfield”) is a touch too slick, sacrificing dramatic rhythm in order to keep the film briskly paced, though it’s vastly preferable to the headache-inducing freneticism in “Gamer.” Despite its multiple flaws, “Surrogates” actually does toy with the complexities and implications of its source material, allowing its themes to resonate long after the silly plot has evaporated. When witnessed in his fragile human form, Willis delivers some of his finest work in years, while Devin Ratray (best known as Buzz in “Home Alone”) provides some much-needed levity as a human network controller.

“Surrogates” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.40:1 aspect ratio), and accompanied by English, French and Spanish audio tracks. During his feature-length commentary, Mostow explains how he wanted to set the story in a location that resembled “present-day Boston” rather than the distant future, so as not to distract from the film’s core ideas by focusing on standard sci-fi embellishments (such as flying cars). He also discusses the subtle techniques he used to help the audience differentiate between the robots and humans. A mime coach was hired to help train the actors playing surrogates, who were instructed to abandon any semblance of facial nuance. According to Mostow, it apparently took more effort to age Bruce Willis that it did to make him appear younger (though his surrogate face was digitally restructured).

Surrogates was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on January 26th, 2010.
Surrogates was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on January 26th, 2010.
Photo credit: Touchstone Home Entertainment

Special features also include an unsettling 14-minute featurette delving into the “Science of Surrogates,” which illustrates how the film’s outlandish technology is not as far-fetched as one would think. There’s a 6 minute featurette on the graphic novel (which did take place in the future), including interviews with authors Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, as well as 6 minutes of deleted scenes that hint at more entertaining directions the film could’ve taken. There’s a moment where Willis finds himself the victim of prejudice in a bar filled with surrogates (who refer to him as a “meat bag”), and a priceless bit involving a human bum who confronts surrogates onboard the subway. Their controlled expressions of indifference in the face of poverty are not all that unlike those of modern day meat bags.

‘Surrogates’ is released by Touchstone Home Entertainment and stars Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, Devin Ratray, Ving Rhames and James Cromwell. It was written by Michael Ferris & John D. Brancato and directed by Jonathan Mostow. It was released on January 26th, 2010. It is rated PG-13.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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