Spoiler Alert!
I am a perpetual victim of the
promotional impact of movie trailers. ‘Transcendence’ appeared to hit all the
buttons. Humans downloading their brains onto computers, artificial
intelligence run amuck, technological terrorists and a circuit board filled
with acting talent. Popcorn purchased, it was time to see if it all added up.
Show time!
Dr Will Caster (Johnny Depp) has
a dream. One day mankind will be able to create and artificial intelligence (or
AI) so powerful it will be able to understand the plot of ‘Neon Genesis
Evangelion’. The shadowy tech baddies do not agree and promptly have him shot
with super radiation bullets. Desperate not to loser her brilliant husband to
oblivion, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) decides to hook his mind up to a massive
computer with the help of best buddy Max Waters (Paul Betany). Once uploaded to
the internet his intelligence swells like a million panicking students the
night before an exam. Evelyn and Will then retire to a little desert town and
begin building a super evil lair. Two years later, the baddies are working with
Max to stop Dr Caster from becoming SkyNet. The authorities get involved and
have one or two options. They can either negotiate and reason with the mega intelligent
Captain Sparrow or they can go in guns blazing and try to destroy him. Which do
they choose? ‘Merica!!! The mega computer, which may or may not be Dr Caster, then
decides to turn everyone on the planet into a drone connected to the internet.
This makes his wife sad, so he decides to instead be destroyed by a computer
virus that his mate has created. As a last resort he uses super tech to fix
planet earth of all the damage man has done but then to shut down all
technology. Yay. We all win (I think).
If I was to take all the
components from my local computer store, I bet someone with the talent could use
them to build a pretty awesome personal computer. But if I took all of the said
components and mashed them into a shopping trolley with a hammer, the results
would not be the same. So it was for ‘Transcendent.’ Like all good Hollywood
autopsies, let us begin the Y incision.
Why ‘Transcendent’? Why didn’t you
work? It was all there.
The Cast
Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Paul
Betany, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara (remember her from ‘Shooter’?), Cillian Murphy
and even Cole Hauser (that guy from ‘Pitch Black’). You could forge Oscar Gold
with half the names on this list. All earned their pay admirably. A big shout
out should go to both Paul Betany and Rebecca Hall who gave fantastic performances.
Keep on entertaining. But let me clarify. No one did anything wrong. They read
their lines and put their hearts and souls into the story.
Special Effects
Nano-Technology. About midway
through the film this kind of becomes Dr Caster’s main thing. These creepy
little black specks flow like oil into human bodies, through walls and cars and
even ascend skyward. Although the tension is never quite there, this story
device is quite spooky and really brings home how advanced the threat posed by
transcending can be. Cool stuff.
After being uploaded to the
internet, Dr Caster stops being a physical character for the majority of the movie
and instead becomes a computer generated image of Johnny Depp. Frankly, if they
sold this to Microsoft I think the movie makers could make a fortune. However,
rather than just appearing on computer screens, we see Dr Casters image
displayed on large glass like screens within the desert lair. Again the word
spooky could be used for the scenes where Dr Caster talks to his wife in this
form. As Evelyn communicates with Will, it almost appears that she is talking
to a mirror and that her dead husband is simply standing behind her. As I said,
spooky.
The Plot
It’s cool. Its unsettling. Its challenging.
‘Transcendence’ made me ask many questions about the future of humanity and
technology. Where should the two overlap is the most obvious. But also are we
inevitably moving towards a confrontation with the potential of technology. I
have even described some of the tech from the movie with language more commonly
used when refereeing to the supernatural. Within the story itself we have even
more questions. The most pressing – is it still Dr Caster inside the machine or
something else? If we download a human being onto a computer would they still
be a person? Fascinating stuff.
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So we have a great cast, cool
special effects, a great plot and some challenging concepts. What’s the problem
then? The whole thing is just dull. The story is there, but the telling is off.
The movie was two hours long. It felt longer. I never quite knew what some key characters
were trying to achieve. Some elements of the story were lavishly explained
while others were skimp over. But all of them required the audience’s good will
to come together and ‘Transcendence’ never quite earned this. The mark was well
and truly missed.
Result
I have been disappointed by
movies before but rarely have I been surprised by just how disappointing a
great concept was delivered.
I give ‘Transcendence’ one Brian
face out of five.
Uninstall hard drive and bury it
in the garden. Consult user manual for depth of whole.
