Movie Review: Surrogates (12)

Oct 6 2009 Sheanne Mulholland

THE RAPID development ofa futuristic world, in which human beings experience life through their robotic surrogates, has left Bruce Willis feeling like he is missing something.

Confined within the walls of his apartment where only his technological counterpart can venture outdoors, he longs for the freedom of life that existed before the robots’ invention.

Despite struggling to deal with the loss of his son and a dissolving marriage in his waking life, the successful cop can overcome anything when posing as his virtual replacement.

Since the creation of these indestructible machines, crime has been eliminated. But amid a moral backlash, a deadly weapon has emerged.

It possesses the ability to kill people through the functioning robots they are linked up to, forcing Willis / Tom Greer to step outdoors in the flesh for the first time in over a decade.

His mission - to save the world.

A thought provoking sci-fi/thriller, Surrogates features a strong idea behind its plot but struggles slightly to portray a flawless picture of a newly created society where the outdoor world has simply become a place to live out fantasies behind a concealed identity.

Although various holes can be picked out, there are a couple of good twists that’ll have you guessing the whole way, with even the odd action scene thrown in by Terminator 3 director Jonathan Mostow to keep excitement levels up.

An impressive performance by Radha Mitchell as an FBI agent possessed by multiple minds makes up for the over-familiarity of Willis’ hard-edged cop.

Rating 6/10.