Movie Review Surrogates

Surrogates (2009) 

Directed by Jonathan Mostow

Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris 

Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund, Boris Kodjoe, Ving Rhames

Release Date September 25th, 2009

Published September 25th, 2009

Bruce Willis is the last of his kind it would seem, a real star. People go to the movies to see Bruce Willis. His plots don't really matter. The stories he tells and characters he plays have grown more and more outrageous and ludicrous and yet fans still turn out. The latest example is the likely number one movie of this late September weekend, Surrogates.

This derivative story of a murder in a world where sentient robots carry out the daily lives of real humans never rises to anything more than an exercise in genre and thus carries no real interest on its own merits. And yet, people turn out. Willis is a star and the only reason to spend money on Surrogates.

Set just over a decade from our own time, Bruce Willis stars in Surrogates as FBI Special Agent Greer. With his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) Greer investigates the first murder in over a decade. Violence has grown almost non-existent in the last decade as more and more humans replaced themselves with sentient robots called Surrogates.

These Surrogates, or surrys as some call them, can't grow old, get sick and if one is damaged it is simply repaired or replaced. All the while humans control the surrey with their minds from the comfort and safety of their homes. I am told that this technology is not merely the stuff of science fiction but a real possibility.

Things are all hunky dory until Greer and Peters are called to the scene of an assault and are shocked when a pair of surrogates are linked to a pair of dead users. Somehow, the weapon employed by the assailant managed to kill the robot and its controller. The implications are staggering to the characters in the movie but anyone with a degree in plot dynamics already has the gist of the lame conspiracy thriller soon to unfold.

The plotting is obvious, especially after we are subjected to the shady corporate villains and equally shady military types who emerge as early suspects. All are going to be involved in some way and in some fashion punished per the plot requirements of such simpleminded storytelling devices.

On the bright side, all of the mediocre story is told through the always compelling presence of Mr. Willis and the capable, if predictable, direction of Jonathon Mostow (Terminator 3). Willis on his worst day is more compelling and charismatic than most of the men in his line of work. His cocksure walk, bullet head and ferocious spirit give him an unpredictable quality that brings life to even the most predictable of plots.

Willis is our tour guide through the lame plot and while he is engaged, so are we. You have to be a fan of his brand of brusque charisma to enjoy Surrogates. If not, don't bother because it is really all that this movie has going for it.

Movie Review Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Directed by Jonathan Mostow 

Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christanna Loken, Claire Danes, Nick Stahl

Release Date July 2nd, 2003 

Published July 1st, 2003 

No film has ever inspired more dread and more excitement for me than Terminator 3. Terminator 2 was the moviegoing experience that inspired my love of going to the movies. That awesome, visceral, exciting experience changed the way I looked at movies. I realized for the first time what was possible in films. The special effects were like nothing anyone had ever seen before. Those effects have since been rendered passé, but I have never forgotten the experience of seeing them for the first time. However, since seeing T2 in theaters some 12 years ago, I have only seen it twice. I can't bring myself to watch it again for fear of diminishing that first viewing. I took that same fear with me into Terminator 3.

My fears were increased when James Cameron, the visionary creator of the series, dropped out of the project and was followed by his ex-wife and series star Linda Hamilton. The fears were furthered when star Edward Furlong's real-life problems caused him to be replaced as John Connor. Then, most disturbing of all, the report that Arnold Schwarzenegger would spend most of T3 getting his butt whipped by a girl Terminator. Thankfully, my fears melted away quickly as the screen went black in my preview screening and new John Connor Nick Stahl began his ominous voiceover. That feeling I had from T2 returned slowly.

It has been 12 years since a teenage John Connor learned that he was to become the savior of humanity in a war against machines. Now under the belief that he prevented Judgment Day from happening, John lives a life on the fringe of society. With no permanent address, phone, or steady job, John goes from town to working odd jobs for beer money with the sneaking suspicion that maybe he only postponed Judgment Day.

After an accident on his motorcycle, John breaks into a veterinary clinic in search of painkillers. As fate would have it a former junior high school classmate named Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) works in the clinic and happens upon him. However, before she can alert authorities, she finds one of her clients shot dead in the hallway and a blonde red-leather-wearing killer is stalking her.

The killer is the T-X (Kristanna Loken) and what Kate does not know is that her name is on a list of people the T-X is to eliminate (as is John Connor). Before the T-X can complete her mission, it walks the real Terminator (Schwarzenegger) with the mission to protect Kate and John. After temporarily slowing down the T-X, the Terminator helps John and Kate escape, leading to a chase sequence that is one of the greatest in film history.

While some critics have complained that the sequence goes on too long, the chase seemed damn near perfect to me. Big, loud, and violent, involving a crane, driverless emergency vehicles, and numerous crushed vehicles, the sequence is edge-of-your-seat exciting and fun.

From there, we learn the fate of Linda Hamilton's legendary character Sarah Connor. I won't give it away, but for such a warrior it's a bit of a letdown. If any female character deserved a true Viking funeral, it was Sarah Connor, so it's disappointing she was lost with such a whimper. However, this series of events leads to another terrific action sequence, this time in a graveyard, with a hearse and a rocket propelled grenade.

Terminator 3 never drags and never tires. Its action propels the story forward without ever trampling the plot, which is a logical extension of the two films that preceded it. Admittedly, my memory of T2 has grown fuzzy over the years, but I was under the impression that the world was saved at the end. T3 has some logical and philosophical explanations as to how the story could continue through its use of the ideas of fate and destiny, classic sci-fi questions about whether you can alter the past or the future.

Then, of course, there is the philosophical debate about technology versus humanity. This film has a decidedly anti-technology vibe; even as the heroes are protected by technology, they are forced to fight against it. It is a fascinating debate, one the film sidesteps in favor of action and explosions, but it does spark the discussion about if or when our technology will go too far. Like a less spiritually inclined version of The Matrix, the Terminator series has some cautionary tales for our modern technological society.

Director Jonathan Mostow deserves all the credit in the world for picking up the gauntlet from James Cameron and making the film that Cameron himself likely would have made--a polished, professional action movie that is entertaining, exciting, imaginative and fun. Not only does Mostow provide the thrills, but he and screenwriters Jon Brancato and Michael Farris have brought wit as well (especially in Arnold's introductory scene set in a strip club on ladies night.)

I had every expectation that they would screw this up. That the film that inspired my love of movies would forever be tarnished by another big budget Hollywood shoot-em-up without a brain. There is plenty of shooting, but plenty of brains as well. Mostow did what I thought could not be done and nearly matched T2. It has been too long since I have had this great movie going experience and though the film suffers the loss of Linda Hamilton, it is a worthy successor to T2. If, as the ending seems to hint, there is a sequel, I will look forward to it like I have no sequel before it.