SNMR 7.29: "Surrogates"

GREEN'S NOW YOU CAN GET THE BODY YOU ALWAYS WANTED REVIEW:

The crime rate is down, murders are a thing of the past and people are living longer and looking better. Has humanity reached its long desired Utopian society? Nah. Life is this way because no one leaves their house any more; everyone has a surrogate to do their living for them. The surrogates are controlled by their users' mind, while they are sitting in a special chair.

When the son of the inventor of surrogacy is murdered, it's up to Detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) to solve the case. Greer winds up getting his surrogate destroyed and has to venture into the outside world to search for clues.

I'll admit that when this movie was playing in the theater last year I had wanted to go see it. I'm glad I didn't. I really wanted to like this movie a whole lot more. I really did.

Surrogates is a film (much like Jumper) that had so much potential but failed to meet it even half way. Sure, Bruce Willis is a fine actor and can carry a film with the best of them - most of the time. For the most part, the acting in this film was flat and uninspiring, even by Willis himself.

The action sequences are workman-like, such as they are. Director Johnathan Mostow, as good as he was at the helm of Terminator 3, just doesn't have a good enough story to work with here. The script is bland and full of holes, as there are several areas where we are left wanting more. We're left virtually no information on the inventor of the surrogates (James Cromwell) or any background on the rebel leader (Ving Rhames) or why there are groups of people who are against the surrogates or any use of machines or technology. This movie is a poor man's I, Robot with all of the missing filler plot details and a lot less action. Makes me wonder what was left on the cutting room floor.

*½ out of *****

Surrogates (2009, PG-13, 89 minutes), starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames and Boris Kodjoe. Graphic Novel written by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele. Screenplay by Michael Ferris and John Brancato. Directed by Jonathan Mostow.