DVD Review: SURROGATES

SURROGATES

DVD review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 88 minutes, audio commentary, music video

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English, French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

STUDIO: Touchstone Pictures, Mandeville Films, Road Rebel, Top Shelf Productions, Wintergreen Productions

Theatrical RELEASE DATE: 9-25-200

DVD RELEASE DATE: 1-26-2010

STARRING Bruce Willis (Greer), Radha Mitchell (Peters), Rosamund Pike (Maggie), James Cromwell (Canter), Ving Rhames (The Prophet)

WRITTEN by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato

Based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele

DIRECTED by Jonathan Mostow

Humanity has become a world where people live their lives through perfect human bodies called Surrogates. People can control their surrogates without living home and be free of disease and imperfection. Two percent of the human population doesn’t use Surrogates. Greer is an FBI agent who is called to investigate the death of two surrogates and their users. Someone is using a weapon to fry both the surrogate and the human brain. Greer knows the stakes are high when one of the dead is the son of the inventor of Surrogates, Canter, and that the weapon ends up in the hands of the Dreads (the humans who shun Surrogates).

SURROGATES is a expertly directed sci-fi action thriller while trying to explain things itoo much (which the fast pace does make up for it). It raises questions like I ROBOT did (Also James Cromwell was a scientist in that one with different motives than in this movie). Would we lose who we are if we used robot bodies to interact through? What kind of society would we be in? I would never live through a Surrogate. I like living in my body despite my imperfections and the things I want to change about my body. I do like teh human side of the story about a man who lost so much and wants to reconnect. Bruce Willis lends humanity to Greer and showing that he is a man delaing with the loss of his son (and wanting to reconnect with his wife). In the internet age,would things like Surrogates make us feel less connected and even more remote? SURROGATES also asks that question.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Director John Mostow delivers an audio commentary for the film that goes into the details of making the film and comenting on the small details that went into it. The only other DVD extras is a music video by Breaking Benjamin for "I Will Not Bow".

I wish they included at least the four deleted scenes that are exclusive to the Blu-ray (the director mentions one cut scene on the audio commentary. The Blu-ray also has two featurettes: A MORE PERFECT YOU: THE SCIENCE OF SURROGATES and BREKAING THE FRAME: A GRAPHIC NOVEL COMES TO LIFE. I wish BVHE and other studios would stop holding extras back for Blu-ray. On one hand, it alienates DVD buyer who aren't ready to switch to Blu-ray. Also it smells of a marketing attempt to do a double dip so the consumer who bought this on DVD would rebuy it on Blu-ray.

FINAL ANALYSIS: SURROGATES is a better movie on second viewing despite the director's need in explaining the plot too much. Also I wish more extras were on the DVD and not just saved for Blu-ray.