BLU-RAY
REVIEW: SURROGATES
1/23/10
OVERVIEW: Action superstar Bruce Willis (the Die Hard franchise) headlines
another spectacular thrill ride in the gripping film Surrogates, coming to Blu-ray® Hi-Def and DVD on January
26, 2010 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator Three:
Rise of the Machines, U-571), Surrogates is a heart-pounding futuristic tale of splintered identity, treachery
and murder. Both DVD and Blu-ray editions come with an array of bonus features that not only invite viewers to
delve deep into the darkly imaginative world of Surrogates, but describe how this futuristic idea is not such a
far-off reality.
SYNOPSIS: FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) lives in a world where robotic surrogates stand in for people, protecting
them from violence, contagion—and the appearance of aging. These picture perfect, real-life avatars—fit,
good-looking, remotely controlled machines that assume their operator’s life role—enable the population to
experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Greer and his partner, Agent Peters
(Radha Mitchell), are called in to probe the mysterious death of a college student, whose life ended when his
surrogate was destroyed. When Greer’s surrogate is damaged in the investigation, he ventures out of his
apartment for the first time in decades. In a world of masks, Greer must decide who is real and who can be
trusted.
REVIEW: How many man vs. machine movies have there been? Well if you’ve enjoyed them all like I have, you won’t mind this latest version. It has similarities with a lot of it’s predecessors but it has a different twist. You will be reminded of the Terminator and Matrix series, I, Robot, The Island, and even Wall-E to name a few. In this case human beings voluntarily replace themselves with robots (surrogates) that are made to be as close to human as possible and designed to look according to its operator’s specifications. The operators (the actual human beings) live through the surrogates by connecting to them in a complete virtual reality manner. This leaves the operators to just remain at home in a physical vegetable state while these robot representations go out into the world to physically live out the lives of the operators. This presents much controversy both in the movie and in reality as well I’m sure. Is humanity reaching this point of almost complete isolation? Has society become so perverse and degraded that we would rather not participate directly but through a machine? This movie demonstrates the ultimate artificial existence, complete inhumanity if you know what I mean. As a society we seem to have less and less face to face contact with one another. Cell phones, text messages, voice mails, and emails have taken the place of eye to eye contact. Are we becoming more desensitized to one another? Is this movie that far fetched? You’ve got to admit that some modern movies are quite imaginative and thought provoking.
Ok, enough preaching. This movie was good but I thought it was going to be a little better. It is not an edge of your seat action packed thriller throughout although there are some edge of your seat action packed moments, no doubt. There is some scattered drama and plenty of statements trying to be made about society in general. Probably what puzzled me the most about this film is Bruce Willis’ performance. This is Bruce Willis, a blockbuster kind of guy who can single handedly carry a movie. Well he just didn’t seem himself in this picture especially as a surrogate. Oh yeah, duh, that because it’s his surrogate. No but seriously, even when you see him as the actual human being, he didn’t seem his usual self in movies. In other words, he didn’t carry the movie as strongly as he usually does. Maybe the character called for him to be that way . . . hmmm. The whole cast in general did not have very sharp performances. A contributing factor is that the script was not that sharp either. One thing that was special was the way the cast behaved ever so slightly and subtly like robots when shown as the surrogates. Their movements, speech, facial expressions, etc. were all well done because it wasn’t exaggerated or overly obvious. The makeup jobs were impressive too. The special effects were very good, not the best I’ve ever seen, but good. I must tell you though that the climax for this movie was pretty exciting. It shouldn’t be too surprising that the director of Terminator 3, Jonathan
Mostow, also directed this film . . . and the picture becomes a little more clear. Even though I gave a lot of negativity, the movie is good and since there isn’t a whole lot to choose from at the theater nowadays, it is not a bad choice to go see.
Film
Review By Cine Marcos
BLU-RAY: The
film is presented in 1080P widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration
preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless,
giving the film and special effects clarity that only high
definition can provide. Not only the picture looks excellent in
this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio (48kHz/24bit) that provides a good complement to the
picture.
In terms of Special Features,
the Blu-ray it includes a feature commentary by Director
Jonathan Mostow, four deleted scenes and the music video "I
Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin. It also contains a
couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes that take viewers an a
small inside look about how the film was made. The featurettes
are not bad , however they don't offer anything interesting.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.40:1 aspect ratio) 1080P
AUDIO:
English 5.1 DTS HD/Dolby Digital
Spanish English French 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish and French
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary with director Jonathan Mostow
“I Will Not Bow” Music Video by Breaking Benjamin
A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates — The world of surrogates is not far away! Mindcontrolled
robotics is already in use in today. This featurette explores the realities of this technology and
offers an in-depth look into the creation of the superhuman versions of the cast created for this film.
Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes to Life
— A visual exploration of the evolution of Surrogates from graphic novel to major motion picture from the earliest designs and sketches. Pivotal
sequences come to life in a dazzling 3-D animated experience.
Four Deleted Scenes
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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