Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

moonspinner55 Expensive but dull, sterile sci-fi adaptation of the graphic novels by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele concerns remote-controlled androids of the future, developed to obliterate crime in society, that are mysteriously being 'murdered'. These incidents, however baffling, should not being causing harm to the very-human "surrogate" owners, but is resulting in their deaths as well. Two FBI agents smell a rat, particularly when one of the dead units is discovered to belong to the son of the reclusive doctor responsible for inventing surrogates. Top-heavy with gadgetry, this lumbering thriller seems plastic and embalmed...what can you say about a movie so humorless that it adds in a belching technician just to rouse its audience? Bruce Willis, as both the head Fed and his lookalike surrogate (with a blond weave!), looks exhausted. Mechanically directed by Jonathan Mostow, who paces the conversational scenes like episodes from a TV detective series. Anything but entertaining. * from ****

TheLittleSongbird Surrogates' great and very interesting concept and the amount of talent on display were its selling points, and Surrogates on the whole delivers, its good parts being pretty great actually. Of course it's less than perfect, but none of the not-so-good things come over disastrously, more unevenly if anything else.The film is a very good-looking one, the sci-fi/technological look very handsomely rendered and imaginatively surreal. It's also beautifully shot and crisply edited and there are some good special effects on display. That is not to say that all the special effects are great, some of them looking rather cheap and being more at home in a film from the late 80s-early 90s. The music has its bombastic, pulsating moments as well as a hauntingly understated quality. Some of the script is interesting and probes a lot of thought, but other parts are on the weak side, with some very clichéd dialogue and it doesn't develop its characters as well as it could have done. James Cromwell's character especially is very underutilised and shallow.From a story point of view, most of it works. There are some good ideas and subplots that are in a good amount if not all cases explored intelligently and intriguingly but what was really remarkable was the subplot with Greer and Maggie's failing relationship, which brought an emotional core that really resonated with me. It's not completely successful, some of it does plod, especially the conspiracy elements, and much more could have been done with the ending, which felt underdeveloped and confused. The action's a mixed bag, some are energetic and exciting but others are pedestrian and on the silly side. Surrogates is directed efficiently and the cast do a great job, though James Cromwell has been much better and more engaged in other roles.Particularly impressive were a charismatically world-weary and no-nonsense Bruce Willis and Rosamund Pike's excellent, sympathetic performance ranks among her better roles. Radha Mitchell is also touching. Overall, has some uneven moments but a most intriguing film that delivers on most levels. 7/10 Bethany Cox

rndhyd In general, I would not recommend this movie. Although, many might like it. Yeah, I'm years late.I'm not trying to to dissuade potential viewers, but to mention what the plot is about, without spoilers.First off -- I could not completely get the makeup of the society (androids) without reading descriptions of the movie, beforehand. Although, I never fully paid attention to this crap movie. I only say crap after I watched it.(Fighting) Bruce Willis is not in his most often character mode. Potential mild spoiler follows. About halfway in the movie, he gets beat up really bad & does not possess the ability to counter that.There is no real conclusion to my review, which is not necessarily bad, but leaves the movie leaves questions of robots/androids taking control.Can be an enjoyable movie, but on an intellectual & boring level -- my perception. In general, I would not recommend this movie. Although, many might like it. Yeah, I'm years late.I'm not trying to dissuade potential viewers, but to mention what the plot is about, without explaining much...

willcundallreview Surrogates is a Sci-Fi film that although never really lives up to the epic scale we see so often in this genre, still produces some good action scenes and an amazing production design to look at. It has a cast led by an action film legend and he produces bringing the right balance of fights and chases to really make the short film exciting. Some say it is poor but I disagree, I felt it has enough to be considered alright and thought it was also just about OK, and here below is why.The story is pretty cool but to be fair it is wasted, too short of a film and too much going on mean you never quite get to delve into the story and learn about new things. I liked the ending which is interesting and although it does start very slowly and the pace really needs to be kicked up a notch, the middle into the end produces what the movie goers want to see. I also liked the way in which everything works in the world, it is really quite neat and although may seem it has been done before when you see it, it turns out interesting.Bruce Willis is well, a weird looking when he wants to be,He has a strange looking surrogate and the make-up used on him is disturbingly strange to look at best. I wasn't to keen on pretty much anyone else in the cast, it is pretty poorly acted and only Willis can do anything to bring in a saving grace. I would have liked to see the film bring in more support for Willis as at times he can seem to be on his own doing things and a decent sidekick would have made it more exciting.Jonathan Mostow doesn't direct this too well in all fairness, it isn't it's weakest point but the way in which everything goes a long is just a frightfully horrible pace. I personally felt the acting was the biggest let down for this film but the writing is also poor, you won't think much about it whilst watching it but the words chosen are nothing different that your average screenplay. The effects, well the effects are also fairly poor but I will say the actual surrogates look great although basically the sets and make-up for this are the top of quality.The main criticism of course the acting as previously said, just isn't strong enough for such a hard film to well, act in. The poor effects are to be fair hard to do anyway, a bigger budget perhaps would have done the trick but they don't annoy you as a viewer. The 89 minute running time can be a problem at times too, with too little a time to really understand the characters and a rushed ending too.If you like Sci-Fi/Action type films then go see it, you should enjoy all that goes on and only the most hardened haters of Sci-Fi would really dislike this. For Bruce Willis fans your probably used to over the top action and this has it quite a bit although sometimes seems mindless. It's actually a good old mystery if you really look into it and any fan of working out that mystery should enjoy this, even if you don't particularly like these type of movies.Overall it is Just About a Pleasing film, contains no material to push up it's score but I don't think the everyone that watches it should hate it. Don't look into the behind the scenes stuff like writing and directing and the film is hugely enjoyable. Another thing not to look a lot into is also the acting which is not the worst ever but when the film starts you want them to leave the movie quick.