Surrogates: How Did I Miss This?

by Shawn Lampron | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Like Chris, I’m something of a trailer junkie.  We share the same dilemma of a lack of time and funds to see all the movies we would like to see and live vicariously through the short snippets of trailers.  Sometimes, they’re my only encounter with a movie, while for a precious few, I’m given the ammunition to use against my wife to convince her that we need to open the checkbook for a movie theater run.

There is a downside to living in such a manner.  Too often, the mystery of movies is removed.  It’s gotten to the point for many movies that I’m not just following them from the trailer to release, but conception to release.  See my Green Lantern casting article or my forthcoming Thor casting article to see my point.  While it can be rewarding to follow the path of how your favorite movies come to fruition, it loses some of the surprise I felt when I was a child and there was no Internet.  So, I find myself excited when something eludes my grasp and comes out of nowhere, sliding underneath my sight.

So, as I sat watching numerous previews while at the theaters to see The Proposal with my wife, I was taken aback by a trailer for a new Bruce Willis movie called Surrogates.  My interest was piqued even more when I heard that it was based on a graphic novel.  As a comic book fan wearing a Green Lantern shirt on his day off, how the hell had this avoided my radar?  Partly embarrassed, partly intrigued, I was treated to what looks like a hell of a cool trailer.  I haven’t seen a good sci-fi action picture in a long time, but this looks promising. 

The premise is as simple as it cool: Human beings, fed up with the danger of the outside world, remain content to lie in these machines in their domiciles and live their lives through robotic surrogates that resemble them.  Thus, they have no physical limits and can lead lives of crazed work, orgies, what have you.  However, somebody has apparently discovered a way to kill surrogates in a way that feeds back and kill the users.  Bruce Willis has to hunt this person down sans his surrogate, emerging his real self into the real world for the first time in years.

Anybody have any interesting nuggets on this one?  I hope I’m not getting excited over the next I, Robot.

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