Every now and then, a movie comes along that I can't help but like even though it isn't technically a good movie. These movies are often deemed "so bad they're good" and may very well be my downfall as a critic. Wally Pfister's Transcendence is a simply ridiculous movie. It seems to take itself incredibly seriously yet has characters who only vaguely resemble people doing things that don't sound possible even in the most convoluted science-fiction film. If it weren't for the decent special effects, I would have thought a science-fiction film from the mid-90s was put on a shelf only to be released two decades later. Transcendence is not a good movie but it is impossible not to be impressed by how committed it is to not making sense.
Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) has pioneered in the field of artificial intelligence. He has developed an adaptive computer "person" called "P.I.N.N." which he hopes will aid humanity through becoming sentient and forming a "collective intelligence" with the rest of the world's data. Will calls this "Transcendence" and his plans are applauded as much as they are lauded. A member of an anti-technology group attempts to assassinate Caster. Although they are not successful in killing him, it is discovered that the bullet with tainted with radiation and that Caster's blood has been poisoned. With only weeks left before he will die, Caster decides the only way he can continue his work is if is implanted inside "P.I.N.N.". Caster's wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and his colleague Max (Paul Bettany) begin the process of copying every brain impulse of Caster into a database. The experiment is a success and quickly the computerized Will starts learning and growing. Will asks to be connected to the Internet so that it can get more information and further the work he had started. Max wonders if this new Will is really Will or a digital menace that will stop at nothing to achieve the goals outlined in its code.
Wally Pfister is Christopher Nolan's primary cinematographer and Transcendence is his film time in the director's seat. As his work with Nolan would suggest, Pfister can make beautiful scenes. Every shot in Transcendence is gorgeous (and that is not solely because Hall is in most of it). Each scene is masterfully framed and photographed and is easily one of the best looking movies to come out this year. The fact that it is beautifully filmed utter nonsense makes Transcendence so much more than it would have been in the hands of a more competent director who was less interested in the appearance. As it is, Pfister has created the largest-budget and most impressive Sci-Fi Channel film ever created. The fact that it is so good looking makes every twist and move in the story that much more interesting.
Transcendence is almost daring in how little sense it makes. There are large stretches of this film that make absolutely no sense in any semblance of a real-world scenario. The movements toward Will's "Transcendence" would raise red flags in almost any slightly realistic movie. A scene where Computer Will hacks into Wall Street and performs fast stock trading to completely fund his post-morterm work is hilarious in the gutsiness it has. This action would have no doubt resulted in the money being frozen and people looking deep into the action of a such a high-profile company. Transcedence doesn't bat an eye over logistics or reality. It keeps feeding the audience quasi-intellectual statements on the destructive qualities of technology and moving bravely and stupidly forward. The story just keeps digging itself deeper and deeper into the ground until it gets so ridiculous all you can is laugh and keep watching. Eventually you begin to wonder why the military or the rest of the country doesn't seem to know or care about what is occurring. Video of the company's "experiments" makes it to the Internet. Still, nobody seems to want to stop Caster. The lack of a realistic and predictable retaliation by the country gives the whole thing a charming quality to it. It is like reading an insane story written by a teen who has clearly read too much science-fiction and wants to make "deep" insights on the nature of technology. "Reality be damned! These 1s and 0s will help and destroy us!" The closest comparison would be 2007's The Happening. That film was more flat-out "unintentionally hilarious" though. Both films will have audiences who activate even the slightest part of their brain looking cock-eyed at the screen and laughing at the ridiculousness presented.
There is no real weak element in Transcendence. The performances are universally fine. Some slight awkwardness by Depp (maybe playing a "cartoon character" for too long has permanently altered his acting) are eventually pushed away when he just becomes a disembodied voice. Hall plays the fiercely-devoted wife well. Bettany furrows his brow in worry the same way he has in almost everything he has made. The story builds and moves at a decent pace. It is entertaining and doesn't really succumb the explosions or big action scenes found in most big-budget studio pictures. The film's hesitation to degrade itself in these manners is no doubt Pfister at work. Nolan has absolutely no hand in the creation of this film and it would seem that Pfister is trying to emulate his direction. The direction is well done. It is the insanity of the script that "destroys" the film.
There is a "Shelley-esque" quality to much of the film. The idea of resurrecting a dead person using technology is primed for cheap sci-fi horror. If you take Transcendence as a twist on Frankenstein it becomes easier to swallow. You will still be interrupted by huge logic issues but at least you will shrug them off by dismissing the whole thing as a movie about a dead guy resurrected in a computer. Still, the lack of an angry pitchfork-wielding mob feels odd. In the end, we don't necessarily know how we feel about anything we have seen. The noncommittal nature of the film isn't artistically motivated like the ending of films like Memento or Inception. The audience is just left wondering if they should have been cheering for the "monster" the whole time or not.
Transcendence is the oddest recommendation. It looks great and moves along well. The overall enjoyment of the story is in how ridiculous it is. It is not ridiculous in the way that most big-budget blockbusters can be. Transcendence is something else. Much like its protagonist, the story resembles a heartless series of 1s and 0s uploaded into a computer to produce a story. It doesn't have feeling but it certainly knows how to run code. The inhuman characteristic of the presentation is half its charm.
No comments:
Post a Comment