Remember about twenty years ago when you would call someone’s phone and secretly be hoping that you got the machine?  That was only the beginning of a society interacting more and more virtually.  Today, with the help of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, you can interact with your friends without ever leaving the comfort of your home.  The new Bruce Willis sci-fi thriller Surrogates takes this idea to its extreme, in an eerily-not-too-distant future.

In an undisclosed future presumably about fifteen years from now, scientists have developed lifelike robots that a person can control using only their mind.  Similar to the way in which Keanu Reeves and company entered The Matrix, a person sits wired up in a comfy chair at home, while a robot surrogate ventures out into the real world and interacts with other surrogates.  The highly marketed benefit is that with your surrogate you can live the life you always wanted to without any fear of the consequences, be it getting in a car accident without getting hurt or picking up a random stranger in a nightclub without any fear of any unwanted side effects.  Of course, a surrogate also allows you to be who you want to be, whether that is a younger, handsomer version of yourself or even a member of the opposite sex.

Whereas the general population has accepted surrogates as the norm, there is a minority who believe they mark the downfall of humanity.  Led by a mysterious, preachy figure called “The Prophet,” this minority has been set aside by mainstream society on reservations, where no surrogates are allowed.

Willis plays FBI agent Greer who does his job through his surrogate.  It’s unclear why exactly the FBI has so many agents as it is explained that since the use of surrogates the crime rate has plummeted ninety-nine percent. However, while investigating a crime scene in which a number of surrogates have been destroyed, Greer discovers that a couple of the users have also died; their brains fried while connected to their surrogates.  It’s the first reported incident involving humans dying through their surrogates.  Greer slowly begins to uncover an even greater plot, while also raising some of his own questions about the discrepancy between surrogates and humanity.

The movie presents a rather frightening vision of a possible future and raises some interesting questions, but unfortunately it is packaged in a rather conventional and run-of-the-mill sci-fi thriller.  Director Jonathan Mostow has demonstrated a talent for generating suspense and creating some splashy action sequences in previous films like U-571 and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but there is not much for him to work with in Surrogates.  There are a couple of decent action scenes, but nothing noteworthy.  The movie is less of an action film than it is a mystery, while Bruce Willis is less John McClane and more Dr. Crowe from The Sixth Sense.  Unfortunately, the plot is easily predictable, which counters any possible mystery that the film tries to generate.

There are some interesting touches in the details regarding the surrogates. For instance, there are charging stations set up throughout the city and one woman advises that her current clunky model is the loaner she got when she took her surrogate in for repairs.  Also, wars—excuse me, peace negotiations—can now be fought without any danger of losing any human lives.  If a soldier’s “GI Joe” surrogate is shot, the soldier need only plug into another one, much like how a killed character can respawn in a video game.  Don’t get too reckless, though, soldier.  These things are expensive.

Surrogates is rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene.”  Most of the violence involves robots so it’s not terribly disturbing and I’d say the PG-13 rating is quite appropriate.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Surrogates.