Transcendence

3 November 2014

Transcendence 2014

• Director: Wally Pfister
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Johnny Depp,  Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Clifton Collins Jr, Lukas Haas
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Johnny Depp  – Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Slow Burn, Cry-Baby, Edward Scissorhands, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Arizona Dream, Benny and Joon, Ed Wood, Don Juan DeMarco, Dead Man, Nick of Time, Donnie Brasco, The Brave, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Astronaut’s Wife, Sleepy Hollow, The Man Who Cried, Chocolat, Blow, From Hell, Lost in La Mancha, Pirates of the Caribbean (all four of them), Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Secret Window, Finding Neverland, Libertine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Public Enemies, Alice in Wonderland, The Tourist, Rango, Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger, Transcendence
• Rebecca Hall – Frost/Nixon, The Prestige
• Paul Bettany – Dogville, Creation, A Beautiful Mind, Young Victoria, A Knight’s Tale
• Morgan Freeman  – The Dark Knight films, Gone Baby Gone, Million Dollar Baby, Bruce the Almighty, Levity, Along Came a Spider, Nurse Betty,  Kiss the Girls, Amistad, Moll Flanders, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Glory, Driving Miss Daisy
• Cillian Murphy –Inception, The Dark Knight films, 28 Days Later, Cold Mountain, Girl with the Pearl Earring
• Kate Mara – 127 Hours, Brokeback Mountain
• Lukas Haas – Inception, The Darwin Awards, Brick, Breakfast of Champions, Witness
• Why? JD. 45^th and last in JD marathon
• Seen:  October 31, 2014

Another JD film that got mixed reviews and that disappeared quickly from the cinemas. But I think it sounds good.  I like this kind of film.

The science stuff is plausible enough for me.  Dying (murdered by enemies of high tech) scientist Will is supposed to be saved by his own IA research implanted into his brain by his research partners, wife Evelyn and friend Max. But he dies anyway.

But he lives. In the computer. Or does he? Evelyn believes it. Max says: It’s not really him.

Max is kidnapped by Will’s murderers and it turns into a thriller. They go after Evelyn to stop Will from taking over all the computers in the world. They’re too late.

It raises very serious existential problems. What to do when high tech AI takes over everything?

It’s also a love story.  Two scientists. One still alive, the other one now just a computer. A computer that has taken over everything and is quite scary even though it has JD’s face and reasonable loving voice and it cures the sick, the blind and the crippled and gives them enhanced powers. Under his control.

It’s an intelligent and well crafted film with influence from many sci fi classics. It raises a lot of questions and doesn’t answer them. But we’ll have to one day soon.

It’s well worth seeing.

 

3* of 5

PS It is a momentous event, having completed the Johnny Depp marathon. I will probably have to write some reflections on it.  Stay tuned...