"Bruce Willis is the only good thing about 'Surrogates'" – Movie Review.

Tweet By Sean Patrick Kernan

Bruce Willis is the last of his kind, a real star. People go to the movies to see Bruce Willis. His plots don't really matter. The stories he tells and characters he plays have grown more and more outrageous and ludicrous and yet fans still turn out. The latest example is “Surrogates” which, while not a massive success when released last September, would likely not have made as much as it did without Willis.



This derivative story of a murder in a world where sentient robots carry out the daily lives of real humans never raises to anything more than an exercise in genre and thus carries no real interest on its own merits. And yet, people turn out. Willis is a star and the only reason to spend money on “Surrogates.”

Set just over a decade from now, Bruce Willis stars as FBI Special Agent Greer. With his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell), Greer investigates the first murder in over a decade. Violence has grown almost non-existent in the last decade as more and more humans replaced themselves with sentient robots called “Surrogates.”

These “Surrogates,” or ‘surrys’ as some call them, can't grow old, get sick and if one is damaged it is simply repaired or replaced. All the while humans control the surrys with their minds from the comfort and safety of their homes. I am told that this technology is not merely the stuff of science fiction but a real possibility.



Things are all hunky dory until Greer and Peters are called to the scene of an assault and are shocked when a pair of surrogates is linked to a pair of dead users. Somehow, the weapon employed by the assailant managed to kill the robot and its controller. The implications are staggering to the characters in the movie but anyone with a degree in plot dynamics already has the gist of the lame conspiracy thriller soon to unfold.

The plotting is obvious, especially after we are subjected to the shady corporate villains and equally shady military types who emerge as early suspects. All are going to be involved in some way and in some fashion punished per the plot requirements of such simpleminded storytelling devices.

On the bright side, the entire mediocre story is told through the always compelling presence of Mr. Willis and the capable, if predictable, direction of Jonathon Mostow (“Terminator 3”). Willis on his worst day is more compelling and charismatic than most of the men in his line of work. His cocksure walk, bullet head and ferocious spirit give him an unpredictable quality that brings life to even the most predictable of plots.

Willis is our tour guide through the lame plot and while he is engaged, so are we. You have to be a fan of his brand of brusque charisma to enjoy “Surrogates.” If not, don't bother because it is really all that this movie has going for it.

BYLINE:

Sean Patrick Kernan is a film critic. Check him out at: http://www.myspace.com/number1ramjamfan. Email Sean at sean@zoiksonline.com.

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