transcendent

Though imperfect, I believe critics have wrongly derided Transcendence, a science-fiction suspense film with an interesting concept and a great deal of atmosphere. The storyline turns on a scientist, Will Caster, trying to create a supercomputer capable of sentient thought when he is shot by a member of an extreme group devoted to slowing technological advancement. In his dying days, his grieving wife and a colleague decide to upload a digital rendering of his mind onto a computer. It is a desperate decision they later question as he uses the Internet to expand and gain power, perhaps becoming a threat to the human population.

The directorial debut of Wally Pfister, long-time cinematographer for director Christopher Nolan, Transcendence wrestles with age-old concerns and conceptions, from society's impulse to fear what it does not understand to the oft-ambiguous role morality plays in science. It does not come to a single profound answer, but it poses its questions in such a way as to involve and entertain the audience. Of particular note is its refusal to separate its character into protagonists and antagonists: in his powerful A.I. form, Will is in turn frightening and seductive, and even at the end one can weigh the unethical dimensions of his methods versus the value of his overarching vision.

Will is played as a man with a casual, nerdy charm and as a virtual presence with otherworldly composure by Johnny Depp, but it could be argued the true star of the film is Rebecca Hall as his wife Evelyn, exuding despair and intelligence as her character evolves from simple grief to complicated dismay and doubt. Behind the camera with even more power than usual, Pfister, of course, proves a gifted stylist, and the crisp and dramatic quality of his images of high-tech underground compounds and vast spaces (urban and otherwise) compensates for moments of uneven pacing and the sense there are too many half-developed peripheral characters, played by such underutilized talents as Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy.

B+

Transcendence

Utter crap. None of the actors were good, and the direction was awful. Badly paced, stupid story, with no impressive visuals. Not even a thinker of a story. The love between Depp and his wife felt empty (not to mention Depp's atrocious acting ability). They tried to make the film poignant with with closeups of water drops, but I wasn't convinced at all.

I believe they had a crap idea for a movie, but went ahead with anyway because Depp was attached and they thought that visuals effects+powerful music can fool anyone (which they can, but not moi). Ironically, it's another film in a long line of faux intelligent flicks.

F

Released in China already or Hong Kong?

China.

Is it doing well?

No idea. The cinema wasn't busy, and that was on a Saturday lunch time.

yeah, this was not good at all.

If I had accidentally stumbled upon an artsy little low-budget sci-fi at a film festival with the exact same content and tone as Transcendence, I would be singing it's praises...

...and that's why I'm singing Transcendence's praises!

Sure, it might have been an exhilaratingly different movie with a streak of humor running through it's cold heart, but Transcendence still makes a fine job of maintaining it's admirably convincing straight face throughout. I enjoyed it's stately ride through the frontier of ideas, ably embodied by Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall.


6 out of 5.

Just like clockwork.

it's not bad so much as bland

Just as the tepid critical reviews and surprising lack of hype suggest, Transcendence is a mess - a somewhat intriguing mess, mind you, but a mess nevertheless. The film has a few intriguing ethical ideas that it begins to wrestle with, but it mostly abandons these ideas and its character development in order to take its story in increasingly bizarre, nonsensical directions. In particular, there's a plot development in the second half of the film that feels awfully reminiscent of one in Iron Man 3; but while the content feels a bit less jarring in unapologetically free-wheeling popcorn fare, it's discordant in a brooding sci-fi film that appears to be taking itself seriously. It also doesn't help matters that the characters aren't terribly interesting or well-developed, which leaves the talented cast with disappointingly little to work with. To the credit of first-time director Wally Pfister, there are some well-composed images (not surprising considering his background in cinematography), there's some eerie atmosphere, and the action scenes are more than competently staged. However, Pfister, the cast, and ultimately the audience are betrayed by an emotionally inert and logically impaired script. From a creative standpoint, it has to be one of the bigger disappointments of recent memory.

C-

I feel like the film never challenges itself fully when the plot and subject matter really asks for it. The ensemble here, while having strong films on their resumes, also don't provide much to help the film move along. The film looked nice at times and I have a feeling Pfister will find success as a director soon, but this was a poor bland start for this side of his career.