"Surrogates": a Miscarried Rehash

Well, it’s been there, done that with “Surrogates.” This film proves that Hollywood truly is running out of ideas for new blockbuster hits. Putting a slight twist on a movie based off of one or more other films does not necessarily make it “unique” – rather it makes it a cheap knockoff of an award-winning idea reincarnated in a crappy, second-hand shell. “Surrogates” not only stole the main idea of one film, but of six that I could tell. “I, Robot” definitely dominated the main idea of “Surrogates” in that robots are created for the convenience of humans, but how far is too far when the machines take over? This movie also borrowed the futuristic elements of the “Terminator” series, “The Matrix,” “Wall-e,” “Gamer,” and “Minority Report.” I mean, what ideas didn’t “Surrogates” steal from another movie?! It was just a great big overlap of six great movies, making this one extraordinarily average.

Bruce Willis plays Tom Greer, a FBI agent who, like most of America, has chosen to possess and control a surrogate. As the movie begins it gives a run-down of surrogates and their purposes. Surrogates were created to decrease crime rates while giving people with mobility issues/disabilities an opportunity to control a replica of themselves so that they can enjoy a “normal” life by having their surrogate face the world in their place. The surrogates are also one of the safest solutions in protecting one’s self because as the real person is in the safety of their own home controlling their surrogate’s movements via mind power connected with latest technology, the surrogates are ultimately living for them in their place. That way if your surrogate gets hit by a bus or shot in a bank robbery, you won’t die; your surrogate will just need to be repaired.

Also, just as the controllers in “Gamer” had the ability to take over any character of their choosing, the surrogates can come in any size, shape, or race that the person decides. In promotion of surrogates, a news broadcaster claimed that the creation of surrogates depleted racial discrimination because each person has a choice to have their surrogate resemble one’s true self or choose an entirely different identity. In seeing the how people want to appear to the world, it was obvious that our societal influences played a large role in the fact that all women were thin, bomb-shell gorgeous and flaunted their sex appeal. Likewise, men like Bruce Willis transformed their surrogates into ravishing men by taking off their wrinkles, their age spots, their beer bellies and eliminating years off of their appearances.

But as time goes on and more people have taken on a surrogate identity while wasting away with age, paleness, and immobility within the confines of their dark, dreary bedrooms, there was – as there always is – a rebellion of people who resist the abdication of their bodies to a robot. I would like to think that I would have been – hypothetically – one of those in the rebellion, fighting for humanity and resisting the technological advances that take away more freedoms than the government claims they provide.

So, is this film another commentary on how technology is slowly but surely consuming our lives and our freedoms? Is it a warning against an oppressive future for which we are the instigators? Perhaps it’s a bit of both. In any case, “Surrogates” entertains and conveys its message clearly but falls short in the originality department. I’d say it’s a no-go for surrogacy.