TRANSCENDING
BLOCKBUSTER CLICHÉS by Bennett Campbell Ferguson
Above: Johnny Depp stars in Mr. Pfister's movie
In "Transcendence,” Johnny
Depp plays Dr. Will Caster, a scientist seeking the secrets of artificial
intelligence. His wife Evelyn (Rebecca
Hall) regards his goals with warm adoration, but the movie is less
certain. And why shouldn’t it be? Never mind the world; look at what rapidly-advancing
technology has done to movies alone. Oh
sure, I’ll admit that digital evolution gave us the giddy spaceships of “Star Trek,”
but it has also helped create the sleekly soulless battlefields of “Avatar” and
“The Avengers,” thereby leaching much of the joy out of popcorn entertainment.
In comparison to those films, “Transcendence” is
practically sedate; too sedate, in my opinion.
There are moments when the pace seems too slow; the camera too still; and
the characters too simple. Yet as the
movie progresses, it develops visual and emotional momentum, turning into a
story that, while sometimes sloppy, leaves you with more than a little to think
about.
Mr. Depp’s Will, of course, has little time to think at
all—the film has barely begun when he’s shot with a radiation-laced bullet and
given one month to live. Yet Evelyn,
tearfully unable to accept her husband’s inevitable fate, uploads Will’s mind
into a supercomputer, preserving his spirit (Mr. Depp’s face appears digitized
on various screens throughout the picture) and, unfortunately, creating an increasingly
domineering and power-hungry new life form.
Thus, despite her loyalty and love, Evelyn begins to wonder if she’s
done the right thing.
Honestly, I never doubted that she’d done the
opposite. There’s something slightly
aggravating about Evelyn; I love Ms. Hall, but Jack Paglen’s minimalist
screenplay doesn’t give her a discernible personality to work with. Besides, I have a feeling that the film would
have been far more electrifying if it had focused on the strident anti-technology
terrorists who pursue Evelyn like a virus seeking a host vessel (they’re led by
the duplicitous Bree, played by Kate Mara).
Yes, they are minor characters, but even so, Evelyn’s generic grief
pales in comparison to their brutal radicalism.
Considering that “Transcendence” director Wally Pfister
has never made a movie before (although he did work grittily poetic miracles as
the cinematographer of the “Dark Knight” trilogy and “Inception”), these
narrative imbalances aren’t shocking. Yet
in his awkward amateurishness, there is still a measure cinematic and intellectual
richness. The early scenes featuring
Will and Evelyn at home may be boringly comfy, but tension arises elegantly when
Evelyn journeys to Brightwood, a broken-down town where she makes a home for
Will’s computerized consciousness. Here,
in the heart of rural America (the film was shot in New Mexico), we get an
eerie vision of a battered community revitalized by technology—a chilling
development made all the more unsettling by Evelyn’s pained isolation.
Of course in the end, everything blows up. Once the military gets wind of computer-Will’s
limitless capabilities (he ultimately gains the power to brainwash and control other
people), they pull into Brightwood, spurring a climactic battle in which ghostly
solar panels are split into tiny metallic particles while cars crash and fists
fly. Yet the sequence is more than
simple spectacle—it’s the moment where Evelyn has to choose whether to save
Will one last time or to cut him loose once and for all.
It’s not the hardest choice in the world to make (who
wouldn’t choose free will over the restrictive utopia that Will’s abilities promise?). Yet Mr. Pfister still musters some admirable ambiguity,
condemning Will’s increasing authoritarianism while celebrating his
environmentalist idealism and his love for Evelyn. Those contradictory elements make the movie
mean something, even if the real takeaway of the film is that computers are
already destroying our planet. They
can’t save it too.
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