Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - February, 2010

"Surrogates" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by John Johnson

Synopsis

In the future, everyone on earth lives through a surrogate, that is, a body that they have selected for themselves, like a robot. The actual person stays home in an electric console that operates the surrogate.

There are a couple of very nice things about this. One is that you can select your surrogate to look exactly like yourself, or something different, i.e., incredibly beautiful.

So, of course, everyone looks terrific in their surrogate form.

Tom Greer (Willis), an FBI agent, deals with crimes committed by surrogates, and by people who have chosen not to live as surrogates.

When the son of the inventor of surrogates is murdered, Tom enters the real world to track down the killer, and in doing so, he finds that he does not want to live his life as a surrogate anymore because he has not seen his real wife in years.

The story leads Tom to a group of people who are not surrogates, and the truth behind their quest to rid the world of surrogates unfolds.

 

Commentary

Interesting premise, this one. You can always be young and beautiful to your friends and spouse. You can't actually get hurt yourself.

So, what is missing? Maybe it's the same thing we all miss by communicating via IM on our computers and cell phones. We don't see each other or actually speak to each other. That's why Tom Greer decided enough was enough.

Technical

Superb picture quality. Good surround sound.

Extras

These include Deleted Scenes, A More Perfect You, Breaking the Frames, Director's Commentary, and a music video.