Three movies in one week – it has been a long time ago that I have done that! While sitting in the movie theatre waiting for “13 Semester” to start, I saw the preview of Bruce Willis’ new movie “Surrogates“. When I made my January-Filmlist, I must have somehow missed this movie, since I usually like movies with Bruce Willis. Generally I have to say that my interests in the movies in January have changed, due to reports from friends. Anyways, let me get to the movie “Surrogates”.
Plot/General thoughts
In the (near?) future, people have the possibility to own robots, so called Surrogates. These can be visually constructed as the owner wishes and are connected with the person via a controlling system. Therefore not humans walk through the streets, but Surrogates with their personality embedded. Because of Surrogates being more resistant than humans, they offer advantages: You exist in your perfect counterpart without leaving the house yourself. As two Surrogates and their owners die mysteriously, FBI-agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Rahda Mitchell) start their investigations. But soon they are not able to use their Surrogates and after many years, they actually have to leave the house and continue investigations as humans – right in the middle of millions of Surrogates.
The beginning of the movie is very well done. You get an introduction of how the Surrogates developed and intended to be used, thus giving the audience the ground material to understand the story. In the first 10 minutes, you are trying to figure out, who is human and who is the Surrogate, getting you a little confused. It is a good structered plot, unfortunately partly very predictable.

Cast
Throughout the movie it is all about agent Greer, portrayed by Bruce Willis. Is not really a surprise anyways. Bruce Willis  acts well in the movie. He simply nails every action figure he plays. In this movie he is always the center of attention, which sometimes seems a little too much; they should have also focused on other characters more, since they had the potential.

Upshot
In my opinion it is a good thing that these kind of movies are being produced nowadays. (I am thinking of “I, Robot” right now, too). By watching movies concerning the development of artificial intelligences, its advantages and disadvantages, we actually are confronted with this idea. We think about what that would mean for our world and our society – the movie makes us think about how we would react on happenings while the plot evolves. This is important to understand the change which these robots would bring with them. After the movie I spent quite a while thinking about the situation, which is one sign that it was a good movie.

My Rating
7/10