Transcendence, Hollywood English Film Movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2
Transcendence(English/Imax)
Rating: * * ½ This sci-fi adventure is caught-up in the
hoary contrariness about man playing God, the dominance of machine and the
uncontrollable nature of life thereafter. Goes a step further than ‘Her’ but
doesn’t possess the similar poignancy. Johnny Depp is liberally wasted and
appears disinterested while Rebecca Hall and Paul Bethany try and salvage some
affective engagement.
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Transcendence(English/Imax)
Rating: * * ½ This sci-fi adventure is caught-up in the
hoary contrariness about man playing God, the dominance of machine and the
uncontrollable nature of life thereafter. Goes a step further than ‘Her’ but
doesn’t possess the similar poignancy. Johnny Depp is liberally wasted and
appears disinterested while Rebecca Hall and Paul Bethany try and salvage some
affective engagement.
English film review
Johnson Thomas
Film: Transcendence
Cast: Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall,
Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Cillian Murphy
Director: Wally Pfister
Rating: *
* ½
Synopsis:Wally Pfister,
longtime cinematographer for Christopher Nolan, makes his directorial debut
with this sci-fi adventure starring Johnny Depp. Jack Paglen provides the
script
Review
Nothing
conventional about this sci-fi that aims to go one better than ‘Her’ but doesn’t
exactly have the wherewithal or the conviction to make it stick. Transcendence speculates about the implications of
imminent technological breakthroughs on life in the very, very near future. . Christopher Nolan's regular
cinematographer Wally Pfister makes his directorial debut with
this challenging subject that had many possibilities but very few of them well realized.
The story was ripe with
dramatic, thematic, ethical, scientific, political and romantic angles and the
complexity thereof could well have led to another ‘Inception’ but that was not
to be.
Artifical Intelligence, Robotics, Mind
control, smart computers are all there and so is the merging of man and machine
where the machine acquires the knowledge , memory as well as the emotion of the
homo-sapien. First Time screenwriter Jack Paglen’s script takes that leap of
faith but doesn’t distinguish it with the required poignancy or believability.
An apocalyptic future where there is no
technology is the opening for this yarn and thereafter it’s a series of flash-backs
narrated by neuro-biologist Max Waters(Paul Bettany). Five years earlier Max,
tech genius Dr Will caster(Johnny Depp) and Caster’s researcher wife
Evelyn(Rebecca Hall) have just made a massive breakthrough leading to the
doorstep of the sentient computer- one that could possess the combined
intelligence of all those who lived on earth. Will, who admits to playing God,
is shot and several labs around the continent are blown up as protestors led by
Bree(Kate Mara) of RIFT, ups the stakes. Before Will succumbs Evelyn and Max
succeed in transferring his intelligence to the computer which then manifests
itself into a digital super human being. Warned by the digitized Will, Evelyn escapes
to a dead town and sets up her unit there. And the resultant is Bionic beings
that have superior strength and never fall ill. Will morphs into a
digital phantom, Evelyn becomes unhinged and Max is long sidelined by his
captors. The residual poignancy is lost.
If only the plotting had incorporated a
little more insight and development, this film would have been a different
experience altogether. {aul Bettany and Rebecca Hall are the only ones who
provide some semblance of enagagement. Johnny Depp looks lost and Morgan
Freeman, bored.
Pfister’s heavy handed
direction tends to reduce everything to simplistic standoffs. He has certainly
delivered a good-looking, well-produced picture, like all d.p. turned directors but it’s a
trifle short on story-telling craft. Pfister’s d.p. of choice, Jess Hall, seems
pretty much obsessed with sun flares and slow-mo water droplets and those
images certainly leave you wondering about what could have been!
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