|
|
 |
Surrogates
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (8th February 2010). |
|
The Film
 Based on the comic book of the same name by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, the five issue series was a moderate success in the comic world, but picked up fairly quickly due to it's cinematic sci-fi themes and a cool concept that has become all the rage of late. Characters use other bodies to live out their lives, of course the most obvious and box office smashing example of this is James Cameron's "Avatar" (2009) which as of writing this is the world's highest grossing film of all time and the box office shows no sign of slowing down at this time. "Surrogates" takes this concept of using other bodies to live out ones life and delivers a fairly tepid and generic actioner that flopped upon release. In this film people live out their lives with the use of surrogate robots... somewhere in there is also an action thriller from sometimes-ok director Jonathan Mostow. The biggest problem I had with this film is that it's a classic case of good concept not reaching its full potential in it's screen adaptation. "Surrogates" is set in the not too distant future of 2017. FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) like many people use a surrogate, partnered up with agent Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) investigates what appears to be the first murder committed in years. The use of surrogates has virtually eliminated crime, but when a college student, Jarid Canter (Shane Dzicek) ends up dead they are on the case. Canter also happens to be the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the man who invented the use of surrogates. Greer and Peter find themselves caught up a complicated web that sees them uncovering a conspiracy. "Surrogates" is truly a cool concept for a film, there's a neat Philip K. Dick feel throughout, as it's easy to see that the iconic author was an influence on the writers of the original comic, but once the initial veneer faded I wasn't as riveted anymore. The film struggles to go anywhere after the half way point and everything you expect to happen happens. The film leaves nothing to the imagination and spoon feeds you its plot from one scene to the next. This action thriller finds itself having less of the thriller element, and predictability is the thorn in this genre's paw. Once you've seen through the plot there's little left to cling to. This shouldn't really come as a surprise as screenwriters Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato were also responsible for writing the truely awful "Catwoman" (2004), the equally awful "Primeval" (2007) and the below average "Terminator Salvation" (2009). What Mostow does well is the action and effects, his films usually feature a grand vision, "U-571" (2000) was well put-together and the tension was appropriately built, and while "T3" (2003) failed to live up to fan expectations the film looked good from an action/VFX standpoint. "Surrogates" is no different, the set pieces are ambitious and exciting, the visuals are eye candy (although for a big budget film could have been much more impressive) and Mostow fills the screen with plenty to look at, sadly it's not enough to harness ones attention as the script lets the film down more often than not with plot holes, clumsy twists, predictable turns and sloppy dialogue. It seems as though Bruce Willis isn't as bankable as some may think, as he's registered more flops of late than most high value leading men with "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007) being his biggest hit in years and having delivered not a single hit since, let's hope his comedy "Cop Out" (2010) will register with theater-goers. Perhaps studios should spend their money on developing the script with a decent director than on the high salaries of these already overpaid stars. Overall "Surrogates" is a fairly generic sci-fi film that doesn't challenge viewers, it doesn't delve into the ethical or even human issues that a subject as this should, and as such doesn't compel this viewer whatsoever and with other films carrying similar themes like the Gerard Butler action extravaganza "Gamer" (2009) and "Avatar," and it's evident which film fans responded to the most...
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 high-definition mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. Buena Vista delivers a stunning image transferred from the original theatrical elements in a sharp and wonderfully detailed image. The detail is the first thing that stands out, with crystal clear images and textured close up that reveal the fine detail. Contrast is excellent, colors are bold and vibrant although I found that the black levels aren't as solid and deep as I'd have liked, they are a bit on the noisy side at times. The overall film has a somewhat artificial feel and as a result some softness is evident in a few shots but this not really a problem as the image is consistently good on the whole. The image is clean and free from compression issues. As far as HD images go this is a great transfer that shows off the format well.
Audio
Audio is offered up in either English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixed at 48kHz/24-bit, French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio. The audio is a bombastic experience, Buena Vista employs an aggressive, complex and generally hearty surround offering immersing the viewer within the sound space. The track envelopes viewers with solid, clear and distortion free dialogue, well mixed ambient and environmental surrounds and manages the transition to aggressive action scenes flawlessly. It's a big budget Hollywood movie mix and it shines on Blu-ray. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista has released this film with an audio commentary, a music video, two featurettes, a collection of deleted scenes plus some bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a feature-length audio commentary by director Jonathan Mostow. Mostow delivers an informative track that covers the production process, the challenges and making a studio film. He covers a lot of the basics from the development, adapting the comic, working with the cast and shooting location among other things including the special effects, breaking down scenes and giving fans an insight into his directing style and vision for the film. It would be interested to see what the director would have changed or said had this track been recorded after the film's theatrical release rather than before, knowing that the film was a flop. "I Will Not Bow" is a music video by Breaking Benjamin and runs for 3 minutes 49 seconds and p[resents a fairly generic video that uses clips from the film. This Blu-ray also features a series of exclusive extras, these include: "A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates" is a featurette which runs for 15 minutes 8 seconds. This takes a look at the science of the film and the overall themes as we get some interviews with key cast and crew personnel. They talk about the what if factor, what if surrogates existed and what that would mean to society. It's neat but not worth repeated viewings. "Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes to Life" is the next featurette and runs for 6 minutes 30 seconds, sadly this clip doesn't run very long. I love features that delve into the adaptation process, so for me this was a missed opportunity to provide a broad background on the comic and this film project. What we get here is an interview with Robert Venditti as he discusses the vision for the book, development, themes and story elements among other things. The disc includes 4 exclusive deleted scenes, none of which are that great, which is what makes them deleted scenes in the first place, they are: - “Dread Encounter” runs for 1 minute 25 seconds. - “Apologies & Theories” runs for 1 minute 28 seconds. - “What You’re Looking At” runs for 1 minute 44 seconds. - “The Real Peters” runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. Finally the disc feature some bonus trailers for: - "Alice in Wonderland" - "The Boys Are Back" - "Everybody's Fine" - "Disney Blu-ray" spot - "X-Games: The Movie" - "Tron Legacy" - "Lost: The Complete Fifth Season" - "Jay Unmarried: The Complete First Season" - "Lost University" spot
Overall
|
|||||
|