‘TRANSCENDENCE’ HYDROGEN REVIEW by SADE ADELEKAN
It was only a matter of time before Wally Pfister took center stage after being director of photography to mentor Christopher Nolan on such films as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises and Inception. And choosing the Jack Paglen-penned Transcendence as his directorial debut was a bold choice. And a choice that yields mixed results.
TRANSCENDENCE
The subject matter – artificial intelligence, as we live in a world where advances in both science and technology are taking dramatic leaps forward, is well trodden ground. Spike Jonze’s Her expertly tackled this terrain, but the world we are presented with is compact, poetic, and the connection between man (Joaquin Phoenix) and machine (Scarlett Johansson) has an emotional lining that ties the film together.
The same cannot be said of Transcendence which feels like it could have been infinitely better if more restraint were applied and if there were less moving parts which sometimes cancel each other out. With grand ideas, vast in scope and the big-budget studio production of it all with commercial expectations in mind, it is all a bit too much and while Pfister whips together something visually appealing as only he can, and the movie checks all the sci-fi boxes, emotionally, you are left a bit cold, particularly towards the man at the center of the storm – the tortoise-shell bespectacled braniac Dr. Will Caster played very ably by Johnny Depp, but for whom you should feel more for the connective tissue to really gel. Rebecca Hall as Caster’s wife Evelyn is challenged emotionally, rising to the occasion in a nuanced performance that stands out in the film.
In Transcendence, Dr. Will Caster (Depp), is a renowned scientist who, along with wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and researcher Max (Paul Bettany), are working an artificial intelligence project in a desert bunker – building a computerized brain, able to transcend the limitations of time and space, ever evolving and able to cure diseases. It us technology that could save the world.
On the other side of the debate is the fringe group RIFT led by the unrelenting and unapologetic Bree (Kate Mara at her creepy, outsider- best), who protest against the work scientists like Caster are doing, with slogans like ‘Evolution Without Technology. Caster is shot with a radiation-laced bullet at a conference and is left with just weeks to live. Max and Evelyn upload Will’s consciousness into the supercomputer they have been building so that Will’s brain will live on after he dies.
What remains is a digital incarnation of Will who appears as a computerized image on screen, a conscious Will, with powers not only to heal but to make those he heals stronger versions of themselves. Will’s power is seen as a threat and the government shuts down the Internet in order to stop Will.
The plot thickens and there is a lot of plot to be had which, if pared down, with the issues of ethics and the interpersonal relationships explored even deeper, could have led to a more grounded picture. One wishes that Morgan Freeman, who plays Professor Tagger, sage mentor to Max, who has been kidnapped by RIFT, were given more to do. Tagger aids FBI agent Buchanan (Cillian Murphy) in chasing down the anti-technology terrorists. Bettany, who could also have been given more to work with, delivers a solid performance, along with Hall and Mara.
There is no doubt that the studio will bank on Depp’s star power to pull seats into theatres this weekend as Transcendence is a movie bloated with promise that falls just short of delivering.
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