Johnny Depp becomes AI in Transcendence
Transcendence
C+
A review by Frederick Cholowski
Sometimes you need a
smaller break out to get your stride and reputation. Thus is the case for most of
the recent breakout blockbuster filmmakers, the most notable of them being
Christopher Nolan. Nolan started smaller which allowed him to make free and
risky films to give him a feel of how to develop his voice before gaining
access to the big Hollywood picture. Sadly (or at least so it seems creatively)
Nolan’s former cinematographer turned director Wally Pfister doesn’t get that
room for growth as he’s thrown right off the deep end with his opening film
being a bigger budget blockbuster. The result is a film that takes an
interesting sci-fi issue and transforms it into generic film that never lives
up to any of the potential of its individual parts.
In the near future, Dr.Will Caster (Johnny Depp) and his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) are
developing new and more developed artificial intelligence. Them and a few other
colleagues in the field of AI including Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman) and Paul
Bettany (Max Waters) are targeted by a group of anti artificial intelligence
mercenaries led by the mysterious Bree (Kate Mara). Will gets hit with a bullet
that’s been laced with poison and only has a few weeks left to live leaving his
wife and projects in dismay. In order to save her husband Evelyn transfers Will’s
consciousness into his most powerful computing creation. Soon Evelyn connects
this creation to the internet and it all spirals out of control threatening to
control the world, forcing the government to team up with the mercenary group
to try and shut it down.
Transcendence’s
worst sin is that it takes a cool and potentially complex issue of artificial
intelligence and turns it into a simple black and white situation. There is no
pondering of the issue or any middle ground regarding the issue; instead it’s
boiled down into the simplest terms. Artificial intelligence and what makes a
person human are such interesting topics that could make a really awesome, thought
provoking film. Instead it’s just a backdrop for the good guys and the bad guys
(or potentially misunderstood guys) to battle it out for supremacy.
This ultimately
wouldn’t be a complete disaster if the film didn’t make the artificial
intelligence question half of the film. If the film had been a total 100%
thriller or action film based on the subject it would have probably turned out
okay but instead it tries to pretend to have intelligence by talking about the issue
in a broad falsely dichotomized fashion. It makes the film look dumb and dull
as a result. There is nothing subtle, nuanced, or interesting that comes out of
this discussion that the filmmaker’s think is suppose to provoke thought on how
we deal with technology.
The next biggest sin
of Transcendence is that it treats its female characters very, very poorly.
Evelyn doesn’t come off as a grief ridden widow determined to keep her husband
alive but instead an insane, over emotional stereotype of a female character.
The same is reflected in Bree who seems over impulsive and emotionally driven
when she should seem like a suitable leader for this band of mercenaries. The characterization
of the women wouldn’t be too problematic if the men around them weren’t depicted
as rational beings whom had all of the intelligence while the women had too
much emotion to do anything. But alas this is the case and throughout the film
the feeling of slight sexism was hard to shake despite the female actors trying
to give solid performances throughout the film.
For a first time director Pfister does a good
job visually. Pfister’s cinematography always focused on big wider shots to
cover the action and that is no different throughout Transcendence. Everything throughout
this film is shot beautifully and everything that is presented is coherent and
easy to watch. If there was a problem with the direction it’s that at time
Pfister doesn’t seem to have a clear voice or style throughout the film. There are
times where the direction seems like it’s from a calm and reflective film and
in others it feels more like he’s making an action film. It may just be the
result of the jumpy nature of the script but there are times that visually it
feels like there isn’t a overly confident and collected single voice.
Despite what the title
of the film suggests, there is little transcendent in Transcendence. The film
stumbles with its vision, over simplifying and ultimately making generic a really
cool science fiction subject while destroying its female characters in the
process. The film just ends up being a very average to below average attempt at
summer sci-fi fare, and a not great directing debut for cinematographer
Pfister. This is one piece of science fiction that doesn’t need to be sleeked
out.
No comments:
Post a Comment