Surrogates (Movie)

Cover of Surrogates

Surrogates came out last year on September 25th, 2009 and is directed by Jonathan Mostow. The film stars Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, and Ving Rhames. When I first seen the trailers for Surrogates I was really impressed, but after hearing so much negativity about the title I decided to skip out on this one. I should know by now not to always go by what others say, but in a time of tight money and movie prices at all time highs I really don’t feel like gambling with every movie that comes out. Needless to say the movie is now available on Netflix’s streaming service which I am already a member of so with nothing to lose I decided to watch it this past weekend.

In a nutshell the story takes place in the near future where people live their lives out through remotely controlled machines known as “surrogates”. If these machines are damaged, or destroyed the end-user feels none of the effects and just wakes up and buys a new machine. Since the invention of surrogates crime has gone down, and the world is doing well. Not everyone buys into using surrogates and these groups of people settle into reservations for humans only. Meanwhile a rash of crimes start to break out where “surrogates” are being destroyed and their operators along with them. We follow the exploits of Willis’s character Tom Greer and FBI agent investigating the murders, and trying to deal with an uneasy marriage to a wife unwilling to be seen outside of her surrogate.

I love movies that take place in the future because you can have a lot of fun with the story and technology as it isn’t based on a time period that has taken place yet, and this movie does a great job at creating a believable setting. It also does a good job of getting you to think if our reliance on technology is always the best thing, other movies have done this as well but it definitely prompted debate between me and my girlfriend who I watched it with. Overall I enjoyed it for what it was, while I can say I’m glad I didn’t go see it in the movies that is not a putdown in any way, it is certainly watchable on TV and is a good 90 mins of entertainment, it’s just not up with spending money on food, parking, and movie tickets, but not much really is lately in my opinion. It is available on Netflix’s instant streaming, and at this point is probably playing on cable or on demand so I say if your into future and technology films check it out.