Sometimes I'm confounded by how others see movies. Take "Surrogates," with its 37% RottenTomatoes score and criticisms of action-flick banality and stupid robot stuff. Indeed, the picture's introduction during the credits explaining the entire scenario as a political thriller was unnecessary and misguided, and if one accepts it on that level, it makes some sense that they'd be disappointed. What I enjoy about it, however, is that it's about spectatorship--about gazing upon movies. Characters see the world through virtual-reality headsets to identify with their robotic avatars much as we follow figures on the screen in dark movie theatres or alone in our bedrooms. Moreover, these robots are the actors' doubles just as film is but a representation of recorded people and not their actual presence. Initially, the only "meatbag" in the surrogates' world, as opposed to the reservations for the hold-outs who prefer living in their own skin, is the guy watching the surveillance monitors tracking the goings-on of the surrogates. He's our on-screen surrogate, even as we largely identify with and follow the protagonist played by Bruce Willis--especially when even our on-screen surrogate spectator, like us, is physically powerless to affect the proceedings. Even the noir-ish, detective mystery is over the murder of people through their eyes, and the love story is about the desire to see the woman inside and not the superficial shell she inhabits--in a way a repudiation of the so-called "male gaze."
The acting isn't bad, either. There are quite a bit of little mannerisms added to suggest their second bodies' artificiality, along with the costume and production design. Willis and Rosamund Pike each have exceptionally expressive eyes. The visual effects have a hyper-realistic aspect to them that works well for the overall artificiality of the endeavor, and I even like the sense of weight when the surrogates land from leaping about. Sure, it's not perfect. Besides the opening credits, the implementation of Dutch angles seems rather haphazard. There doesn't seem to be much of anything to make of white characters possessing black-skinned surrogates, or of the transgendered potential of inhabiting any sex, and I think it's unfortunate that they have reservations for the humanity that is uprooted from their way of living, but the movie doesn't prominently cast any Native Americans. But, then again, viewing "Surrogates" as a reflection of reality I think is to miss seeing its fantastical potential as a sci-fi mediation between the screen and the spectator.
The acting isn't bad, either. There are quite a bit of little mannerisms added to suggest their second bodies' artificiality, along with the costume and production design. Willis and Rosamund Pike each have exceptionally expressive eyes. The visual effects have a hyper-realistic aspect to them that works well for the overall artificiality of the endeavor, and I even like the sense of weight when the surrogates land from leaping about. Sure, it's not perfect. Besides the opening credits, the implementation of Dutch angles seems rather haphazard. There doesn't seem to be much of anything to make of white characters possessing black-skinned surrogates, or of the transgendered potential of inhabiting any sex, and I think it's unfortunate that they have reservations for the humanity that is uprooted from their way of living, but the movie doesn't prominently cast any Native Americans. But, then again, viewing "Surrogates" as a reflection of reality I think is to miss seeing its fantastical potential as a sci-fi mediation between the screen and the spectator.