Surrogates

Surrogates (2009)
7/10

“Surrogates” is another of this year’s many science fiction movies. It is set in a world in the not so distant future where people live out their lives as robots, avatars of their real selves. Bruce Willis plays robot FBI agent Greer as well as rugged old man controlling said robot. The era of robots has all but eliminated crime and all of societies problems: racism, ageism, and apparently socio-economic differences. As such, the job of FBI detective is pretty cut-and-dry until –

A murder. Not just the murder of a surrogate (as the robots are called), but of the controller of the robot, through the robot itself. This confuses the FBI greatly and the situation is complicated because the murder was of a high profile individual. The victim was the son of the creator of surrogates, Dr. Canter (James Cromwell). This apparent motive leads Greer and his partner Agent Jennifer Peters (Rahda Mitchell) to the Dreads, humans who have rejected surrogates as an affront to God. They are led by The Prophet (Ving Rahmes) who routinely gives speeches about revolution from the human reservation in Boston.

From this point we follow the classic story arc that police often follow in which we learn more about the creator of surrogates in order to understand the motive of the crime and more about the prime suspect in order to understand the other side of the story. This is played out in an action oriented kind of way, led by Greer who has not left his home for longer than he can remember but still knows how to kick a robots butt.

Ultimately, the film does an excellent job of creating a world and sticking within the confines it has created for itself. Surrogates raises a lot of interesting questions about how and what life would or should be like with the ever increasing technology around us. Greer has a strained marriage because he and his wife never physically see each other, everything is through the eyes of their surrogates. On the other hand, life is safer. People don’t die in car accidents or rarely suffer illnesses because they are no longer exposed to these dangers. The biggest question asked is, “Where do we draw the line between protecting life and living life?” It is difficult to answer.

Some issues that arise come from the way the film will suggest a question about the world inhabited by surrogates and then quickly move past it. According to the in-film documentaries, 2% of the population are Dreads, while one billion people have surrogates. That doesn’t add up. While they claim racism disappears, we still see minorities everywhere. Where there are minorities there will be racism. You could make an entire film on the subject of whether a black man wants a black or white surrogate. We are told surrogates have become so easy to manufacture that they are accessible to everyone (except the six billion people that don’t have them) but then see that there are different models of surrogates based on pay scales. Greer’s suggested replacement model only has two senses. Why would anyone want to live with only two senses? One low end surrogate has giant fingers so large she can’t unlock a door. Who designed that model?

While the film is certainly an interesting concept, much of the thought that is evoked is glossed over by action action action. After watching this I realized that there are several parallels between it and “Minority Report” (2002). “Minority Report” is definitely the better of the two, but certainly less fun as a concept. It is fun to imagine the where the possibilities can end up when you’re first glimpse of the real Greer is after he has poured himself a glass of water with his surrogate before shutting down for the night (or waking up for the evening).