If J.J Abrams’ recent reboot of “Star Trek” and this summer’s breakout hit, “District 9”, mark a return to classic science fiction, than “Surrogates”, the new film starring Bruce Willis, definitely continues that trend. The film’s premise is rife with intrigue, leaving ample room for philosophical ideas and an exploration of the classic battle between man and machine. Unfortunately, the actual film does not deliver on the promises made by such a premise.

Surrogates, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, and directed by Jonathon Mostow, depicts a very near future in which humans are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates—sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. When the first murder since the integration of surrogates occurs, FBI agent Greer (Bruce Willis with hair) begins to unravel a vast conspiracy, abandoning his own surrogate in the process.

Like the far superior “I Robot” and “The Matrix”, and even the more recent “Gamer”, “Surrogates” plays on the fear of our seemingly inevitable over-reliance on technology. In the world of Surrogates, humans use their robotic selves as proxies between themselves and the real world. Anyone familiar with the game Second Life will attest to the realness of this threat. If there is one thing the internet is slowly accomplishing it is the rendering of interpersonal relations impersonal.
However, the film is all concept and no execution. For one thing, there are many gaping plot holes; it is never fully explained why so many people would choose to willingly abandon their lives for a hermetic life of obsolescence, save for a pocket of humans led by a man only known as the Prophet. The Prophet has a secret though, and that secret makes even less sense.

Also, the plot unfolds in an extremely formulaic and predictable way, making it simple to figure out the story’s twists and turns way before they even happen on screen. What could have been such an ambitious sci-fi thriller never really comes to life, hindered by a by-the-numbers plot that fails to resonate emotionally.

Perhaps most frustrating of all, though, is the utterly lifeless acting. Surrogates ultimately falls flat due to a number of factors, not the least of which being Willis’ performance, which is about as lifeless as his surrogate. Willis has always been a kind of deadpan actor, delivering his lines with a cold detachment that made his characters cool in more ways than one. Could it be that his character in Surrogates has been living through a robotic body for too long? Maybe. It wouldn’t be too farfetched, however, to assume that Willis might have been replaced by a surrogate on screen. Maybe the technology is closer than we know.
Grade: C-