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Old 05-26-09 | 03:29 AM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by chris_sc77
No it's already over 2 hours and is the most enjoyable film this summer.
Not because its over 2 hours but because it tells its story the best. I have found that hollywood films lasting over 2 hours tell there stories better than ones under 2 hours.
I'm with you. I love a good fleshed-out movie - even if it feels slow at times. Action (and any adventerous plot) doesn't mean anything if we haven't spent plenty of time with the characters.

But there's always exceptions. So I don't turn down trying-out any movie.
Old 05-29-09 | 04:53 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by BullGooseLoony
This actually looks kind of cool, kind of like I, Robot.
Mostow doesn't disappoint with action, but Bruce Willis as the "surrogate" looks kind of silly.
I actually just watched I, Robot this past weekend and I really liked it. This trailer looks like another good Sci-Fi film. I am definitely planning on checking it out. I think I would have enjoyed I, Robot had I seen it in the theater, so I don't want to mis out on this one.

Originally Posted by Numanoid
Does anyone else remember when Bruce Willis was a comedian?
I remember when he was on "Friends" as Ross' student-girlfriend's father. That was funny. I loved his guest appearance on that show, but this role is much more fitting for him. He really does well with Sci-Fi movies I think.
Old 09-20-09 | 10:26 AM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

OMFG! this doesnt even last 90 minutes long!
Old 09-20-09 | 01:41 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by chris_sc77
OMFG! this doesnt even last 90 minutes long!
At least that means it won't take up too much time if I decide to see it. Sometimes short and to the point makes for a good movie.
Old 09-20-09 | 02:46 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

^I guarantee that wont be the case with this one.
mark my words when the reviews come in for this one.
Old 09-20-09 | 04:19 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by chris_sc77
^I guarantee that wont be the case with this one.
mark my words when the reviews come in for this one.
While I don't necessarily agree with your logic on what makes a movie "worth seeing," I think you might be correct here.

This movie looks like it might be choppy and pointless as opposed to short and sweet.
Old 09-21-09 | 06:39 AM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

I've seen the trailer for this film and there's a big problem with the plot that I can't seem to get past.

The film sets up a society where people stay in their homes and send out robotic surrogates to interact in the 'real' world while they experience what their surrogate experiences thru some sort of virtual reality set up.

Question... If all people experience is a virtual reality representation, what's the point of using these top-of-the-line, expensive androids? Why can't everybody just sit in their chairs and interact in a VR world?

Unless I missed something in the trailer, this just seems a strange plot device to me.
Old 09-21-09 | 08:31 AM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

well it's a film directed by the guy that did Terminator 3...so plot holes are his thing.
Old 09-22-09 | 04:38 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Disney is refusing to show this to critics this week.
Old 09-22-09 | 05:19 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by chris_sc77
Disney is refusing to show this to critics this week.
Actually, they're showing it Thursday night, which is just as bad, but still something.

PANDORUM is the one being kept away entirely.
Old 09-22-09 | 06:56 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by The O
Actually, they're showing it Thursday night, which is just as bad, but still something.

PANDORUM is the one being kept away entirely.


Again, September is the month of stinkeroos.
Old 09-22-09 | 07:03 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

This looks... interesting, sort of. Unless my semi-local drive-in theater shows a double bill of this with Pandorum, I'll likely pass.
Old 09-22-09 | 07:20 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by CreamyGoodness

Question... If all people experience is a virtual reality representation, what's the point of using these top-of-the-line, expensive androids? Why can't everybody just sit in their chairs and interact in a VR world?

Unless I missed something in the trailer, this just seems a strange plot device to me.
It's probably a psychological issue in that if you're going to be agorarphobes, you would have to interact with real objects and in real time. Like taking a photo: if it were two skinless robots, you'd know it wasn't you but two robots with corresponding user-likeness would convince you. And it's probably fairly easy to design a system where you create physical objects as opposed to having to constantly render the entire world on billions of computer screens.
Old 09-22-09 | 11:22 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by CreamyGoodness
I've seen the trailer for this film and there's a big problem with the plot that I can't seem to get past.

The film sets up a society where people stay in their homes and send out robotic surrogates to interact in the 'real' world while they experience what their surrogate experiences thru some sort of virtual reality set up.

Question... If all people experience is a virtual reality representation, what's the point of using these top-of-the-line, expensive androids? Why can't everybody just sit in their chairs and interact in a VR world?

Unless I missed something in the trailer, this just seems a strange plot device to me.
The humans still need food and buildings and stuff.

Also, a VR world probably couldn't be taken seriously and would spiral out of control. Ever have fun going on killing sprees in Grand Theft Auto? Yea, something like that.
Old 09-23-09 | 04:54 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by CreamyGoodness
I've seen the trailer for this film and there's a big problem with the plot that I can't seem to get past.

The film sets up a society where people stay in their homes and send out robotic surrogates to interact in the 'real' world while they experience what their surrogate experiences thru some sort of virtual reality set up.

Question... If all people experience is a virtual reality representation, what's the point of using these top-of-the-line, expensive androids? Why can't everybody just sit in their chairs and interact in a VR world?

Unless I missed something in the trailer, this just seems a strange plot device to me.
What about the "no murders in years" bit? Couldn't a person walk their surrogate right into another persons house and attack the man or woman using the control booth?
Old 09-24-09 | 09:37 AM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Having been forced to sit through the trailer for this seemingly every time I've been to the movies in the past 4 months, I find it insulting that there are no critic screenings for it.
Old 09-25-09 | 03:45 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Why do all banner ads for this movie like the one on ESPN.com make Surrogates look like it's advertising a porn site?

While I have not and have no intentions of seeing this movie, I know enough about it to know this is misleading!
http://espn.go.com/

Look to the top, it will appear.
Old 09-25-09 | 03:50 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Just saw it and it was horrible. They did nothing with the concept. The whole film just doesn't make any sense. I've been angry all day just from seeing it.
Old 09-25-09 | 04:56 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki
They did nothing with the concept.
Agreed.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/39758/surrogates/
Old 09-25-09 | 05:14 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Ill just say this: told ya so.
Old 09-25-09 | 09:50 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by chris_sc77
Ill just say this: told ya so.
Wow...I'm, shocked, SHOCKED to find out that a stupid looking sci fi movie dumped in September and not screened for critics is getting bad reviews.
Old 09-25-09 | 10:27 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Wolf,

Don't throw water on him. He'll just multiply like a Gremlin.
Old 09-25-09 | 10:45 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Originally Posted by SkipKassidy
Wolf,

Don't throw water on him. He'll just multiply like a Gremlin.
Old 09-26-09 | 01:24 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Coming from the wishing well of utopian sci-fi concepts, "Surrogates" sets up a world where humans are so afraid to leave their homes and apartments, lest they suffer harm from violence or disease, and rely on their surrogates (basically sophisticated human-controlled puppets/robots/avatars walking around in the real world) to do their jobs and entertain themselves, much like a videogame of virtual reality, only it happens in the real world while people just lie in their reclined chair, jacked in, and living vicariously through their surrogates.

The film's script wants the audience to accept far too many implausible developments to make such a premise involving and believable. The world filled with surrogates is compromised when a weapon turns up and is able to kill the person controlling their surrogate by firing it at the surrogate, something thought impossible due to supposed fail-safes in place. This threatens to undermine the entire concept of safe surrogacy. Bruce Willis's character Tom Greer is a FBI agent assigned to a case of surrogate murder, along side his partner (Rahda Mitchell), and they follow the clues to uncover possible suspects in a murder-mystery within this framework.

I guess I just wasn't able to get past the concept as presented in the first roll of the film, so the rest of the film just felt hollow, even as it strained to say something profound about the human condition through our connections to one another in the flesh, communicating with people by looking them in the eye and taking in non-verbal cues, and not layer up our defenses with robotic stand-ins.

I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.

Last edited by Patman; 09-26-09 at 01:27 PM.
Old 09-26-09 | 08:30 PM
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Re: Surrogates - Bruce Willis

Entertaining, but i'm not sure if I got everything, but maybe because the film is full of plot holes. Just watch I, Robot or A.I. instead. Surrogates is like Philip K. Dick for kids.

This movie makes me appreciate Terminator 3 more though. Surrogates was like a Terminator 3 Lite.

Bruce Willis is as entertaining as ever, and it's nice to see that he's in good shape and hasn't fattened up. I really love Bruce Willis in leading-action roles. It feels like he's been doing a lot of supporting characters or cameos lately.


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