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Throughout his career, Bruce Willis has played a whole lot of tough guys. He’s played mobsters and cops and crooks and…more cops. In his latest thriller, Surrogates, his character isn’t a whole lot different from the others—which, if you’re a Bruce Willis fan, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
In the futuristic world of Surrogates (which was based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele), cops like Tom Greer (Willis) have a pretty easy job. Crime rates are low—because people never venture out into the streets. Instead, they spend their days connected to their surrogates—model-perfect robot versions of themselves, which allow them to live their lives with no inhibitions, no risk, and no consequences.
The whole concept of surrogates comes into question, though, when police discover the first real murder victim in years: a young man who’s killed while attached to his surrogate. The victim wasn’t just any young man, though; he was the son of surrogates inventor Lionel Canter—and Canter could be next.
After a run-in with an anti-surrogate group leaves his surrogate damaged, Greer does the only thing he can to protect Canter. Despite the protests of his partner, Agent Peters (Radha Mitchell), he takes to the streets without his surrogate, for the first time in years.
Though it’s set in a futuristic setting that’s filled with perfect-looking robots (including a Bruce Willis robot that comes complete with a full head of hair), Surrogates is, for the most part, the typical Bruce Willis action movie. Once again, Willis plays the damaged tough guy—a cop who feels disconnected and out of touch, both because he lives his life vicariously through a robot and because of the tragedy that brought distance between him and his wife (played by Rosamund Pike). Throw in some gorgeous women, some fights, some chases, and a threat to humanity, and you’ve got 90 minutes of over-the-top Bruce Willis thrills.
To its credit, though, Surrogates is more thoughtful than the average action movie. In fact, the concept is intriguing—and it might even make you stop and think about the cold, impersonal nature of today’s technology. Unfortunately, though, the story isn’t fully developed—and a number of plot holes will leave you with a few too many nagging questions in the end.
So Surrogates isn’t exactly a brilliantly mind-blowing action film. Though it’s built on a clever premise, the effects are often cheesy, and the acting is (perhaps appropriately) stiff. In fact, you might even call the performances robotic. Still, if you enjoy watching Bruce Willis in his usual race to save humanity, there’s at least enough action and adventure in this sci-fi thriller to make it worth a rental.
