Surrogates

Surrogates – 2009, Jonathan Mostow

I’m sure I saw a trailer for this in a cinema at some point earlier in the year, which implies it had at least a limited release, but I’m not so sure it didn’t just go straight to DVD outside the US. Although it wouldn’t be the first Bruce Willis film to slip under the radar (anyone ever see Hart’s War, or Tears Of The Sun?). I think it’s overexposure that has caused Bruce to become less of a draw than he was; he’s been in at least two or three films a year since 1988. I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you he should have been more picky.

I think Surrogates is one of his better choices. If someone had told me after I’d watched it that it was based on a novel by Philip K Dick, or it was written by Andrew Niccol I’d have believed them. It was in fact based upon a short running comic book by a guy called Robert Venditti (short lived by design, not because it was discontinued as far as I can gather).

‘Surrogates’ refers to the remotely controlled robots that the people of the future use to life out their life. What started as a mobility aid for the disabled has become an eternal youth for the majority of the people of the world. The trailer explains what’s going on:



If the plot looks predictable, that’s because it is, but in this case, I don’t think it detracts from the film.

The reason Surrogates is so reminiscent of Phillip K Dick’s work is because it takes place in a future where most people don’t seen very happy, and some technological advance has occurred that changes or affects everyone’s lives. Phil’s books, like a lot of sci-fi, tend to revolve around one Big Idea which in itself is interesting and original, but doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny when the central concept of the idea is questioned.

The best example of this is his 1968 novel ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ which was adapted into the 1982 movie Blade Runner. The story is about androids, who are almost completely indistinguishable from humans, who have super human strength and intelligence and are created solely for the purpose of working in the harsh conditions of Martian colonies. These androids are almost completely human, but their big flaw is that they cannot develop or process emotions properly and completely lack empathy. So when they eventually go crazy and return to Earth from Mars and start killing people, android bounty hunters are called in to take care of them. This all makes for a riveting story, but it begs the question ‘Why would they make inherently psychopathic robots in the first place?’ I think that Blade Runner does a better job of brushing over this little problem than the novel, and it seems to be the case than a lot of the films based on the works of Phillip K Dick are better than the novels that inspired them.

Surrogates suffers from the same kind of problem; it presents the audience with a particular future world scenario, then requires the audience to accept that scenario without thinking too hard about how plausible it is. The film brushes over a lot of the implications the scenario might have on society and focuses on the ones that are important to the story being told.

Surrogates is one of those rare films that is greater than the sum of it’s parts. The premise is flawed and the plot is predictable but it’s incredibly watchable because of the events that take place with the Surrogates. There is a sub plot about Bruce’s deteriorating relationship with his wife which is more interesting than the main story. If this were an independent foreign language film about people living out their lives through idealised robot versions of themselves, it would be lauded as a ‘compelling study of human relationships, and society’s obsessions with youth and beauty’. But it’s not. It’s a Hollywood sci fi action film without much action, and yet...so much more.