An above-average entry in the burgeoning sci-fi techno-thriller genre, Surrogates goes great lengths to show how beautiful us real, honest-to-goodness ugly humans are. It's a Premise Movie (TM), like The Matrix, Strange Days or A.I. You need to let yourself buy the idea that 98% of the world's population stays at home and sends forth surrogates -- gorgeous robotic avatars -- into the world to handle nearly every daily task. You plug into this machine with superhuman strength, agility, etc., but you send him/her/it to... work the same shitty workplace you would've gone to without one? Seems the tech hasn't eliminated the need for lousy jobs...
Willing suspension of disbelief and all that. Anyway, this film adaptation may not pack the noirish punch of the gritty graphic novel, but it's a decent popcorn flick that uses Bruce Willis's unique battered and bruised, loose cannon cop routine quite well.
Interesting sidenote: at the end of the film, random couple to our right launched into a debate about the socio-political ramifications of widely available surrogate technology. The belles behind us immediately started talking about the beauty salon / body shop - 'Like, OMG, wouldn't it be awesome to get your cheekbones done like that?'
OMG, indeed, sweetheart. O. M. G.
