Surrogates: What a Waste
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Surrogates: Movie Poster
The other night, I had the misfortune of watching Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis. I won’t deny it, I’m a Bruce Willis fan. I enjoyed his Die Hard films and I think Bruce is definitely one bad-ass dude! However, Surrogates left a sour taste in my mouth and I was almost about to plead to the movie gods that they should give me 90 minutes of my life back. I’ll let you read the ‘professional’ reviews online or in print. But allow me to explain three things that I hated about this movie.
Number 1: How did crime decrease?
One of the ‘facts’ mentioned in the movie regarding the use of surrogates is that crime has proportionally decreased due to the widespread use of surrogates. In fact, the movie begins to state that no murder has really occurred in many years. From what I gathered, one surrogate could kill another surrogate and the owner of the perpetrating surrogate would get a slap on the wrist, a nice fine, and virtually no other penalties. So basically, you could still commit crimes, it’s just that the penalties are severely reduced. How the hell does that work?
My guess is that the producers and writers failed to see that connection and simply assumed that the viewing public is gullible and retarded.
Number 2: They have a “lawless” zone in major cities?
It should come as no surprise that there are many humans in the future that do not want to use surrogates. They view surrogates as hordes of drug-addicted drones. In fact, the movie illustrates surrogate users as being addicted to drugs. And that drug is the act of using surrogates. But I digress…
The major city, Boston, has a zone called the “dread zone” in which surrogates are not allowed to enter. If you are a surrogate, you will be destroyed and it really looks like the slums of the city. How the hell does a part of the city be declared virtually independent from the rest of the city? These ‘dreads’, as their known, kill surrogates and the cops virtually helpless to do anything about it. That makes absolutely no sense to me.
I realize that there are many communities in major cities that lack proper judicial enforcement, but there are no communities that are strictly off limits to all members of law enforcement if a crime occurs.
Number 3: Just a piss poor plot
I’ve never read the original comic book that the movie is based on. My guess is that the comic book is exponentially better than the actual movie. The movie’s plot does a very poor job of really developing a unique story. I think the movie would have benefitted quite a bit from a better backstory that led into the climax.
But who am I kidding? I didn’t pay to watch this movie. Thanks Redbox for sending me a free code on the first Monday of every month!