Year: 2009
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $ 39.95
Studio(s): Disney Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 25, 2009

Film/Feature: C
If you haven’t had enough science fiction films about human-like cyborgs, then you may room for Surrogates, a Jonathan Mostow-directed film that’s based on the 2005 Top Shelf comic by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele. In a not-too-distant future, humans have the ability to live life through a surrogate robot/cyborg model of themselves. The surrogates are idealized versions of humans, and by living life through a remote control life-sized action figure there is less crime, no racism, and life is seemingly lived better. That is until the story begins and FBI Agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) arrive on the scene of a murder scene. A surrogate turns up terminated and when it’s found out that it is a college boy named Jerod Canter was in control they discover his human body was terminated simultaneously. Canter is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the man who originally created surrogate technology.

The investigation turns to Greer and his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) who follow a lead to the Prophet (Ving Rhames) leading a cult known as the Dreads, who choose to live a surrogate-free lifestyle and clue them in on a weapon that was used to carry out the murders. When Greer gets too close to the truth, he is nearly zapped by the weapon. He is temporarily discharged by his superiors and to take some time off and spends the rest of the film up out of his surrogate chair to reconnect with his wife, Maggie (Rosamund Pike), who is all too comfortable in her virtual world to go back to what she had with Tom. When it seems like he’s lost her to her virtual life, he pursues his investigation and discovers a plot to rid the world of all surrogates but also those humans connected to them.

I realize that Surrogates is about a robot world replacing live flesh, but that does not mean humans should act like robots as well. Willis shows no charisma or everyman charm he normally brings with him. He plays the tormented soul just fine, but not much else. The idea behind Surrogates are that they allow people to play idealized versions of themselves, how they want to be known, and frankly, there’s not much difference between Surrogate Tom Greer and his human counterpart. Willis’ role is the focal point and he doesn’t give much reason or hope for a non-surrogate world. In turn, this road block helps make The Surrogates a run-of-the-mill science fiction thriller that borrows from films like A.I., The Matrix, iRobot, but falls short of giving us something truly unique.

With its short run time (which is counter productive in this genre), there’s not enough here to connect to or be sold that this world could exist, never-mind being asked w In fact, I’d sooner warm up to the idea of a Surrogates TV show instead of a film so that the ideas in this story could be given some proper pacing and seasoning. Surrogates and the idealistic visions of their original purpose were not without good intentions but somewhere along the way their execution fell flat, and that’s exactly the way I’d describe the film as well.

Video: A–
The Surrogates blu-ray gets a strong1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. and it’s a fine representation of what the film was intending to do. There’s a subtle difference in skintones between humans and surrogates. Give credit to the extras playing surrogates like over-botoxed models, but the makeup crews must be given their props as well as those slight differences help distinguish most of who are surrogates and who are humans. It’s that fine attention to detail that’s on display here as well as the full range of colors whether it’s the gritty and gray industrial wasteland where the anti-surrogates live. Their barracks area looks like a concrete jungle that’s been bombed repeatedly. Then in the nightlife which is all lit in neon colors and backlit sign, the screen is filled with savory hues. Mostow and company shot some scenes in a soft glow purposely and do not reflect any visual defects or digital artifacts that would mar the overall visual experience.

Audio: A
There are enough shootouts and chase scenes to make the 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track show its strength. Lots of directional movement and subwoofer activity will please the audiophiles, and the dialogue sounds superb even during the story’s most quiet moments. The balance can sound and at times a bit too much oomph, but technically, Surrogates has nothing to be ashamed of. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French and Spanish.

Extras: C+
Audio Commentary by Director Jonathan Mostow features a calm and almost soothing dialogue, that is a scene specific track delving into the subtext of the film. I believe that Mostow does a fine job filling in what the audience was asked to fill in for themselves if they were paying attention. He calls attention to small details in the art production and points out where additional shooting was needed because the original cut left much for the audience to piece together. Even though he’s by himself, Mostow is concise, knowledgeable and is not dry, nor is he boring. He’s definitely proud of the effort that was put forth and he expresses the enthusiasm for the material well, but don’t expect a lesson in film school. There are subtitles available for the commentary.

There are four Deleted Scenes HD (5:15) which can be viewed separately or all at once.

A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates HD (15:08) The technology behind Surrogate robots and how that tech is thriving in our modern-day world. This is probably the star featurette in the picnic basket. It tickles that curiosity bone and ties into the technology used in the film to the point where at least the science was plausible.

Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Come to Life HD (6:39) Robert Venditti and Brett Wedele are briefly interviewed in the middle of a motion version the comic playing out. It starts to really take a good look at the comic but halfway through turns into your typical Hollywood EPK.

To finish off the extras is a standard definition version of the ”I Will Not Bow” Music Video SD (3:49) by Breaking Benjamin which is the usual mash-up of sexy band clips sandwiched in between scenes from Surrogates.

Overall Shock Value: C+
The origins of Surrogates lie in a good graphic novel, that plays with the story-telling devices on a sequential, visual medium, so there will be plenty of curiosity to see how it was adapted to the big screen. The concept lays a good endoskeleton for a solid science fiction film but there’s not enough meat to flesh out a memorable fictional world. I don’t know many memorable science fiction films that run under 90 minutes because there’s so much that normally needs to be established and while plenty has been done to create the world of surrogacy, we are only given bits and pieces of the antagonist, and never truly make a connection with his cause. The disc itself has no real deficiencies, this blu-ray just suffers from the story not going for it all. I wanted to like it more, but I am likely to let my Surrogates recommendation stay with just the comic. However, I do respect the curious, and caution those cats to Rent It first and go from there.