Thursday, July 16, 2015

REVIEW: Transcendence (2014)



Transcendence is one of those films that tries too hard, only to fail by the time it finishes.  That's not to say that it's the worst movie out there or anything, because it is watchable, and it is a very gorgeous film to look at, but the beautiful visuals do not save this film from plot holes, forced morals, or a pitiful clichéd climax and resolve.  

I have been asked the question before on whether or not I would take up an opprotunity to have my conscience uploaded to a computer if I could.  It makes for a fun, yet frustrating debate amongst family friends, and now we got a movie to show for it.  The idea itself is an intriguing idea, and my science-fiction fan inside of me was actually curious to see how they would go about it.  Immediately I was happy believe it or not to see Johnny Depp out of that role he always pays, you know, the role where he's crazy, insane, mad, etc, this is a role that very much downgrades that status, but despite it being refreshing...there are times I gotta wonder if Johnny Depp was bored out of his mind when acting in this film  He has little energy, is very monotone, in fact...I can't recall very much emotion out of his character at all.  You can argue that is mainly because his character is stuck inside a computer screen all film, but you'd think his conscience would recall some form of emotion, especially since he does what he can to make his loved ones around him more comfortable, whether that's talking with them, or recreating the simple sound of a fork and knife scratching against a dinner plate.  So as refreshing as it is to see him play a somewhat normal role, it wasn't at all a strong performance.  But to be fair, he's not the only one to blame there.  There were a lot of recognizable names in this film.  And none of them really outshine themselves here.  Even the beloved Morgan Freeman is forgettable here, though he is one of the few actors here who knows how to depict a proper emotion in character.

One thing I also really knock this film for is the fact that though it starts its story out interesting enough, the story quickly goes all over the place.  This leads to me comparing it to films that I never thought to compare this film to such as "The World's End" (2013) and "WALL-E" (2008).  The ideas and themes of humans rapidly becoming depentant on technology, slowly embracing it as a part of life and society, the fact that so many of us just can't disconnect from the ways of conveniences like social media, or whatever the hottest thing on the internet is.  This film tries to go even further on that and show that humans could take technology perhaps too far, as it shows the conscience of our hero's mind evolving into something that probably wouldn't have come up at all in our lifetime.  He learns how to rapidly heal damaged human tissue, he learns how to purify the world using this nanobot technology, and eventually the movie does its best to portray him as this power-hungry man, and we are given this idea that he might be thinking that it's either his way or the highway.  We get introduced to this insurgent group who is anti-technology, despite the fact that they are using technology (even if it's not connected to the internet), and this battle between normal minds and uploaded minds.  And in the blink of an eye, this whole setup is tossed out the window it seems. 

The fact that this film tries to give this message that we shouldn't get so involved with technology is probably it's biggest fault.  It's just a message that has been done a million times before, and a hundred times better.  I also feel that the film doesn't quite understand it's own message, or care about it, because as I said above, it's thrown to the side almost immediately.  The very end of the film after we get this "climax" if you wanna call it that of our hero, pullling the plug on his giant electronic empire, frying the internet, and plunging humanity almost back into the dark ages...similar to "The Worlds End", it just sets up one of the most pathetic clichéd climaxes I've ever seen.  The film transforms from this 
edgy science fiction tale, that has some general, yet interesting concepts, to a romance in the blink of an eye, similar to a move that the movie "Oblivion" (2013) pulled, only much more...what's the word...regardless of what that word is, I rubbed my face in annoyance.  The romance between our two protagonists is there in the film, but more subtle since one of them is technically dead.  We get to the end, and all of a sudden by some miracle of technology, the two are joined in the upload in a way that though they describe it in the movie...is just stupid.  On the levels of Shyamalan stupid.  Yeah sure, the internet is wiped on a global scale, but one sheet of copper protects this one little garden on the earth...what a twist. I could knock the technological side of this little ending, but I honestly don't think it's worth it. The film obviously wanted a happy ending, and would bend the rules to get that.

The film I will say does a decent job of keeping the viewer questioning who to root for. There were times I honestly hoped that the "insurgents" would succeed in destroying the network, because of how it seemed they were portraying Depp's character, yet at the same time you wonder if there is any human aspect to this digital mind, because as I say up above, it can show concern for those it seems to care about. It is said again and again that he just wants to help the world, and help those who hate him, and all while this is going on, you're hoping that he is stopped because you wonder if he is perhaps mistaken, or even who he says he is. But again, these moments are few and fat between, and all these questions are just killed after we get that ending.

There's not much to enjoy in this film.  As the story drags on, I found myself bored out of my mind at times as the pointless conversations and walks down visually appealing, yet bland hallways just dragged in this fim.  The visual concepts in this film are about the only thing worth noting as impressive.  They remain strong as the fim runs.  The interior architecture, the upload visualization, how the internet is represented in one's consciousness, it's all a wonderful treat to the eye, but it's not enough to hold up the debut film for new director, Wally Pfister.  I'm happy I watched it, but I don't think I will watch it again anytime soon.  The story goes all over the place, the climax and ending again....painfully cliched and dumb, the idea behind this story could have been so much more, and it just didn't meet my expectations.  I hope Mr. Pfister can take the good that he did in this film, and learn from the mistakes. It's a visual treat, and I guess he's shown his visual talent before in other projects, but this first attempt at directing could have been much better.  Time will tell I guess if he can recover from this misfire, and give us a stronger film, with just as much visual impressiveness.

And as always, thanks for reading.

Final Verdict: 2/4

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