Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Starring Bruce Willis, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell and Ving Rhames
Bruce Willis is still the big time Hollywood action star!
In the not too distant future, people are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic ‘surrogates’ — sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer (Willis) discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.
The early part of the movie does a great job of showing how the surrogate technology was developed. Immediately my head was spinning – thinking through the social implications of this technology. This movie does what classic science fiction movies always do. It makes a comment about today's society or cultural trend and carries it to a profound and scary conclusion. Sure surrogates don’t exist right now, but just look how we communicate with each other. More and more we are using technology like computers and cell phones and spending less time in face to face conversations…as a result we are becoming disconnected. Everyday millions of people use computer avatars and pretend to be someone other than who they really are. This film takes that trend and advances it to its logical conclusion – scary.
The cast is great. Yeah, I’m a huge Bruce Willis fan (especially his action films) and he does not disappoint at all in Surrogates. James Cromwell and Ving Rhames also do a fine job in their roles.
Visually, the film is brilliant. The surrogates are “perfect.” Because no one is overweight, or ugly, or ever has a bad hair day, the contrast between them and real people is shocking. There are also different models of surrogates and different features or upgrades. In some scenes, the surrogates look and act like typical robots. Other times, it’s difficult to tell the difference.
Since it is an action movie, I would be remised if I didn’t mention that aspect of the film. Surrogates may be durable, but they aren’t indestructible. We see them “survive” a helicopter crash, get run over by an speeding truck, lose an arm and get shot in the chest with a shotgun… and that’s just Greer’s surrogate. Honestly, I thought there was a great balance between the action and the story.
Finally, I wanted to say I was pleasantly surprised that the film makers chose to stay away from the graphic sexual content I was expecting would be in a movie like this. The implications are there, but they don’t focus on them or take them too far.
This is an action movie that will make you think. It’s a smart, visually outstanding, thought-provoking action movie that gets a “Theater Worthy” score from me.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
The PG-13 rating for violence and disturbing images is warranted. The language and sexuality are mild compared to other PG-13 films. I also think that the film’s social commentary is a valid conversation starter. It would be nice to see more students unplug and have more face-to-face communication.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
