9) SURROGATES

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Stars: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, Ving Rhames, James Cromwell
Year: 2009
Rating: PG-13

Set in the not-too-distant future, Surrogates is a stylish science fiction action piece that works largely due to the presence of Bruce Willis as FBI agent Tom Greer.

The world was dramatically changed in just four years' time, by a man named Canter (James Cromwell) who created the technology that would enable humans to live complete lives without ever having to leave their home. How? You use a surrogate - a mechanical, robotic you that you can style to your satisfaction (make it younger, thinner, more attractive than you are in real life), then send out into the world to do your job, shop for your groceries, or even go out dancing and drinking in a club, while you lay at home in a chair and experience what happens in safety. It's the perfect you, in the perfect life you want to live - and the idea became so popular that four years later (as the film's story begins), nearly every human being on the planet is buried in their home, the world now filled with surrogates. So unpopular is it to be human in the outside world now, that those few who deign to remain surrogate-free are called "Dreads," and have relocated themselves to small reservations within the city, with their own little community, living as if technology didn't exist at all and with a fierce hatred of surrogates they won't even allow them onto the property they've claimed for their own.

Into this peaceful existence comes along a case that has Tom and his partner, Agent Peters (Radha Mitchell) completely baffled - the fried remains of two surrogates, apparently destroyed by some sort of bizarre ray-gun that has never been seen in the world before. It's easy enough to destroy a surrogate - they can take a punishment, but CAN easily be brought down - but the odd part of the case here is that when the surrogates got fried, their human counterparts, safe at home on the other end, were also killed.

Such technology has never been seen before, and Greer and Peters are determined to find the murderer and get the weapon. We soon learn that the Greer and Peters we are watching in the film are surrogates themselves (no wonder they were so pretty/perfect!), and that Greer's home life isn't exactly idyllic; after the death of his own child, Greer and his wife have become more than estranged, with her virtually never leaving her room in favor of sending her much younger, more beautiful surrogate into the world to live.

Complicating matters is The Prophet (Ving Rhames in a horrific Halloween rasta-wig), a "holy man" and leader of the Dreads who himself is always preaching for an uprising of the human beings to destroy the surrogates for good. Such a man would be the ideal creator for such a weapon as the mysterious ray-gun used to kill the surrogates Greer and Peters found, but when something happens to Greer's surrogate and he is suspended from the force, it's up to the real, human Greer to force himself back into the mean streets ... to find a killer out to change the world back to the way it was for good, no matter how many people have to be murdered to do it.

Surrogates looks fairly amazing; when Willis, as Greer, hits the streets as himself, it really puts an exclamation point to all the pretty, perfect people on the streets around him - really hitting the mood and look of the film home. The plot twists are decent, to the point where you don't know who Tom Greer can trust and who he can't trust, and at just 89 minutes the film moves at a fast pace and never loses momentum.

In fact, it anything that might be the big flaw with Surrogates; the lack of time. Time that, had the film even been just a bit longer, could have been spent putting viewers more solidly into the world depicted on-screen. Ditto for the characters; you have a decent sense of Tom Greer and his wife, but beyond them don't get a very strong sense of any of the other characters. Happily, the acting skills of the talented cast make up for much of these shortcomings, but I still wish the film had spent more time showing us various aspects of this intriguing world - or, by comparison, even more of the characters behind the surrogates. The ending is pretty rousing, however, and though a bit predictable you will still be rooting for Willis' Greer.

In fact, Willis saves this film BIG-time, actually making it exciting and fun to watch. The plot and action are both enough to hold your interest, and even if the revelation of who is behind all this mess won't come exactly as a surprise, the ride to get there is short, sweet, and swift.

Thanks in large part to Willis, I really enjoyed Surrogates - though even for its look and story alone, the film is also worth a look. *** - Reel Cool