Perfectly adorable

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Surrogates is a thought-provoking, generally well made sci-fi movie. There was a little too much action for my taste and I didn't get how people who were connected to their surrogates almost 24/7 still had functioning bodies at all, or how they performed basic functions, but the main concept was intriguing.In a world where you look however you want and never get hurt, who would ever use their real body? What is the point? In doing so, are you losing a large portion of what makes you human? The movie asks these questions and others.It started really well for me, as it presented an evolution to the current state of the world. It was progressive, we didn't just get 'bam, this is how things are, doesn't matter how it got here'.The development of the story was OK, it felt the pacing was off a bit at times. I thought the concept and its consequences was so powerful that it could have been better executed – all the action and superhero stuff only got in the way. Still, I appreciated the main characters, their struggles and their development. I particularly enjoyed the anxiety experienced by the main character when going out to the world for the first time in years. All the cool effects were a welcome bonus. That flawless skin… Wowza. How the heck did they do that??Besides the amazing imagery and all the action, Surrogates had suspense, mystery and interesting plot twists, so I recommend it.

In a future in which nobody leaves their home, instead traveling from place to place in linked-in surrogate robots, it is up to an overworked policeman to solve a crime by leaving his home without a surrogate in this intriguing science fiction thriller starring Bruce Willis. The film is jam-packed with interesting ideas (surrogates prevent accidental deaths; surrogates can be upgraded for extra agility) and the glimpse into a society inundated with this craze is fascinating with obvious parallels to internet avatars and virtual reality programs today. There are some personal identity issues too and the film gets a lot of mileage from contrasting how different the users look to their surrogates. The makeup used to reverse-age Willis is especially remarkable. The thriller plot that develops is unfortunately never quite as interesting as the set-up and the plethora of unanswered questions (particularly regarding the health and fitness of the homebound users) leave an uneasy taste in the mouth, but this is nevertheless an undeniably entertaining ride. There is a particularly good action sequence with Radha Mitchell jumping between rooftops of moving cars; in fact, Mitchell gives the film's most interesting performance as her surrogate is hijacked and she begins to act ever-so-differently and yet without any of her colleagues catching on. Willis has done better before and this is not the sort of film to really maximise his acting prowess. His sadness over his son's death resonates though, and all the more so since the accidental death could have been prevented had the son been using a surrogate.

Yeah, I know, Bruce Willis may be a bit past his sell-by date. He's hardly the box office draw he once was. And, yes, he does tend to exhibit a noticeable sneer/smirk throughout most of his most recent roles, but give him a chance here. He's not so bad.Surrogates set in the future when we all have robots to carry out our menial chores – all of apart from wise-cracking cop, played by Will Smith, who is hell-bent on proving that our robot 'protectors' are not what they seem. Oh, wait, that's not the plot for Surrogates at all – that's the plot for 'I Robot.' Never mind – just take out the word 'robots' and replace it with, er, 'surrogates' (which are basically robots) and you have the storyline.If you haven't seen I Robot, Surrogates may be quite original, but I couldn't believe how similar the two were. But I still enjoyed it. I put in my review title that it was a competent LITTLE sci-fi number. That's largely because it's quite short for a film – coming in well below the average hour and a half. And, because of this, it's over pretty quickly, almost like a TV episode of some sci-fi show.It has action, conspiracy, reasonably special effects and Bruce Willis isn't that annoying. In fact, his – how should I put this – 'mature' action hero status actually works here. The human race all have (surrogate) robots shaped like them who go out into the world under their human master's control. Naturally, everyone's surrogate is young and gorgeous while their human owner's body gets older and flabby from the comfort of their home. It's quite amusing when Bruce's beautiful bot gets beaten up and the 'real' human Bruce has to go out onto the streets with his bald head and wrinkles for all to see.All of this means that if you're a fan of the sci-fi genre you should get something out of this film. It's one of those films that you like more if you haven't had to pay for. If you can borrow it off a mate or find it as part of your online TV package, give it a go. It will definitely kill just over an hour of your time, but you probably wouldn't have wanted to pay full price in the cinema to see it. Oh, and it's also advisable not to watch I Robot before you see this (it's definitely superior – sorry, Bruce).

In the near future, people use robotic surrogates in place of their everyday life. It started 14 years previously with the work of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell). Now there is a resistance to their use led by The Prophet (Ving Rhames). Crime has been all but eliminated when the world is full of surrogates. Then people actually gets killed when their surrogates get blasted by a new weapon. FBI agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Radha Mitchell) investigate. He's married to Maggie (Rosamund Pike). He wants to take a vacation out in the real world as themselves but she rather use the surrogates since the lost of their son. One of the victims is the son of Canter who had been forced out of his company VSI 7 years ago and is now a recluse. They uncover a vast conspiracy.The movie creates a fascinating world. It's filled with intriguing ideas. I like where this movie is coming from. I do wonder if the movie is better with society stratified between the poor who live in their real bodies and the rich in their surrogates. Instead it's made out to be a choice depending on your viewpoint. The bigger issue is the robotic acting because ... they're robots. There is something disconnected about the unblinking robots. It does allow for some great action but it mostly leaves me cold. As for the ending, I expect something much more action oriented.