Transcendence (2014)
Artificial intelligence is kind of a hot button issue, of course, because there’s always the fear that the machines will take over and everything will go all dystopian like The Matrix or something. Transcendence tries to keep the human element behind the AI so it’s way less sinister, right? Right?
Dr. Will Caster is the world’s leading expert on AI, and everything is poised to take off in a huge way. He’s got the ears of investors, including Elon Musk, and everyone feels pretty optimistic. Well, that is until development teams all over the country are attacked by anti-AI groups, including Will, who’s shot by an unknown assailant.
Will’s wounds seem to be minor, but the bullet is laced with radiation and he’s given a month to live before he dies of radiation poisoning. Since he’s got a little time left, Will, his wife, Evelyn, and his friends work to upload Will’s personality onto a computer, making him his own AI.
Well, it works a little too well, and Will’s colleagues are unnerved at how aggressive his AI self is. He wants access to Wall Street. He wants online presence. He wants a lot of things. He even starts healing people and passing along his nanoparticles, which connects everyone to him and gives them super-cool powers. His friends, who join forces with that group who shot Will, have some tough choices to make.
To the casual observer, Transcendence looks like a great movie with a stellar cast and a fantastic premise, almost Vincent Price-like in its quirky possibilities. The reality, however, is nothing like this. It might have a stellar cast, but they are underutilized to the point of looking visibly bored. Paul Bettany as Will’s friend, Max, for instance, wears an “Are we there yet?” look all the time. Johnny Depp, who can do quirky like no one’s business, looks perturbed and tired, like he was just in the film for the paycheck. Same thing with Morgan Freeman as Professor Tagger and Rebecca Hall as Evelyn. They try, but it’s not nearly enough.
The plot doesn’t climax so much as kerplunk, as numerous possible directions for the plot go unrealized. The only thing that keeps the movie at all interesting, at least initially, is the hope that it’ll get better.
What’s really amazing is that this is a Christopher Nolan product. Well, he was the executive producer, anyway, but his name is on this thing, and it’s nothing like a Christopher Nolan film. The problem is that his involvement is minimal, as if he wanted to give the film’s actual director and Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister a chance to try directing. And apparently the script used in the film is not the original but an alternate that was used for whatever reason even though the original script is markedly better.
So the sum total of Transcendence is that everyone was off their game. Really, really off. Oh well.
Transcendence is currently streaming on HBO Max. Rated PG-13.
My grade: D+
Principal Cast: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Katie Mara, Cole Hauser, Lukas Haas
Directed by Wally Pfister.
Written by Jack Paglen.