Lower Decks

Another movie that wasn’t all that heralded but hits with the impact of a blockbuster upon viewing, ‘Surrogates’ could be summed up as the adaptation of a graphic novel and a Bruce Willis film at worst, or as a sort-of culmination of a long line of movies exploring the human-machine relationship. The latter, to me, certainly sounds more flattering.

‘Surrogates’ the graphic novel is perhaps more relevant than, say, ‘Men in Black’ the comic book, but it’s not necessary to have read the source material (which I haven’t, but am formulating plans to), so I’m not going to bother rehashing my opinion on that subject (and I suspect, most critics wouldn’t either). I’m far more interested in how ‘Surrogates’ the movie fits in with the tradition of sci-fi movies exploring similar ground, all the way from ‘Blade Runner’ to this summer’s excellent ‘Moon,’ in which the validity of using clones as if they’re a disposable way of tricking a particular individual into an increasingly thankless job. In
‘Surrogates,’ fourteen years have let the world grow quite comfortable in carrying on life through a robot who does everything for you, except sit in a special chair that allows a completely innocuous connection to make it happen. This has had the effect of allowing people to lead exactly the lives they want, and therefore virtually eliminate crime.

Not so much for Sam Greer (Willis), or for the Dreads, reactionaries led by the Prophet (Ving Rhames, unrecognizable and the more revelatory for it), who believe Surrogacy is an abomination. Greer works in law enforcement, so when the first murder case involving Surrogates is opened, he’s drawn in immediately, tracking down the killer into one of the reservations for Dreads while trying to confiscate the weapon, which causes an overload in the robot and feedback that kills, in turn, the human. Right there, you can see parallels in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Minority Report’ (it’s not hard to see ‘Surrogates’ as a descendent of Philip K. Dick’s work) and Will Smith’s ‘I, Robot’ (or Isaac Asimov’s). Before, however, you assume that it plays too familiarly, ‘Surrogates’ has a number of tricks up its sleeves to maintain a distinctive stamp. Even James Cromwell, who portrays the creator of the Surrogates (much the same role as he had in ‘I, Robot’), keeps it fresh, putting another stamp in an increasingly lengthy and distinguished genre career.

Spielberg’s ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’ was a film that explored at length a version of what the Dreads would like to do to the Surrogates and their hosts, but ‘The Matrix’ or ‘The Island’ might be a better example of the way Greer slowly wakes up from the haze his life has become. Haunted by the death of his son, he and his wife, portrayed by Rosamund Pike (who’s joined by fellow underrated actress Radha Mitchell as Greer’s partner), serve as a window into the psychological traps that would allow for such a world to develop, which itself is not as bad as the Prophet would suggest, or as good as Pike would have it. By the end of the film, Greer makes a radical and unnecessary decision that the audience is forced to think about, which is one of the reasons ‘Surrogates’ becomes such a memorable example of this story archetype.

This summer, ‘Terminator: Salvation’ explored the same story in the plight of Marcus Wright, a murderer offered a second life he would soon come to realize as cursed, in the plotline that elevated the film to a standout in that franchise. A few years earlier, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ hammered home the inhumanity that twisted Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, perhaps the most subtle demonstration of the machine debate in film history. ‘Surrogates’ adds a cosmetic twist that can almost seem beyond the point, but it’s difficult to miss when you contrast any number of differences between Surrogate and human host, from Willis with a full head of suave blond hair as a robot to his bald head as human to Pike’s flawless model features as her fantasy and scarred, bloated real self. At one point, the inevitable gender-bending fetish is put on display, while Cromwell spends a great deal of time being anyone but Cromwell (which includes the kind of twist common in M. Night Shyamalan films, but equally justified in the scripting here). This is the rare Hollywood movie that will actually have you rooting for the more homely people.

‘Surrogates’ is a movie you might see for any number of reasons. I became interested mostly because I’m a Bruce Willis fan, but the story looked intriguing, too. It turns out I was rewarded on both accounts.