Transcendence — 2014
Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
Transcendence tells the story of artificial intelligence researchers reaching their ultimate goal while being opposed by technophobic terrorists, and a love story akin to Spike Jonze' Her in which a human is in love with someone who exists only on the screen.
Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, a lot of Christopher Nolan people, science fiction, a bloody brilliant premise and a heart-warming ending - nothing could go wrong, right?
Wrong.
Transcendence just didn't work. It had all the machinery of Inception, but the last push from Oscar-winning cinematographer-turned-director Wally Pfister was not enough. It was alright, but nothing as extraordinary as the trailers and the previews promised.
I thought personally that Johnny Depp was amazing; probably the best component of this apocalyptic movie. I loved his acting right from the start: in the garden, the lecture, getting shot, getting uploaded and everything henceforth until the very end. Rebecca Hall was pretty good - some of her scenes provided a lot of emotional depth, such as "Shut it DOWN? It's HIM!" which was a part of one of the trailers and one of the scenes I anticipated watching.
The other actors were, frankly, just there, like they didn't have much significance in the movie. Kate Mara being the exception of course - she never fails to surprise me, and this time as well her screen presence was well-appreciated. Paul Bettany and Cillian Murphy were definitely not up to the mark. Morgan Freeman was alright; nowhere as good as in his other movies - in fact, the dialogues confused me so much that I realised after intermission that his character (Joe) was an FBI agent and not an AI researcher! Which brings us to screenplay: I did not like it. This was probably one of the reasons I had a mixed view of Transcendence. The dialogues were all over the place; I had no idea what was going on a few times.
I loved the premise, I really liked it. The ending tried to redeem the movie and came close but unfortunately, failed. It was probably the most heart-wrenching and emotional scene in the entire movie. This is why I rate the movie higher than I should.
The message given was also not too bad: basically, to fear technology and what it can do. In fact, it was a good one.
There was a lot more stuff that I liked and didn't, but as a regular reader pointed out, I tend to give out spoilers so I won't. All you need to know is that this was an alright movie that should've worked but didn't and could've been way better than it was.
Overall rating: Three out of five stars (3/5)
Final comment: A one-time watch - that is, unless it is your guilty pleasure.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
Transcendence tells the story of artificial intelligence researchers reaching their ultimate goal while being opposed by technophobic terrorists, and a love story akin to Spike Jonze' Her in which a human is in love with someone who exists only on the screen.
Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, a lot of Christopher Nolan people, science fiction, a bloody brilliant premise and a heart-warming ending - nothing could go wrong, right?
Wrong.
Transcendence just didn't work. It had all the machinery of Inception, but the last push from Oscar-winning cinematographer-turned-director Wally Pfister was not enough. It was alright, but nothing as extraordinary as the trailers and the previews promised.
I thought personally that Johnny Depp was amazing; probably the best component of this apocalyptic movie. I loved his acting right from the start: in the garden, the lecture, getting shot, getting uploaded and everything henceforth until the very end. Rebecca Hall was pretty good - some of her scenes provided a lot of emotional depth, such as "Shut it DOWN? It's HIM!" which was a part of one of the trailers and one of the scenes I anticipated watching.
The other actors were, frankly, just there, like they didn't have much significance in the movie. Kate Mara being the exception of course - she never fails to surprise me, and this time as well her screen presence was well-appreciated. Paul Bettany and Cillian Murphy were definitely not up to the mark. Morgan Freeman was alright; nowhere as good as in his other movies - in fact, the dialogues confused me so much that I realised after intermission that his character (Joe) was an FBI agent and not an AI researcher! Which brings us to screenplay: I did not like it. This was probably one of the reasons I had a mixed view of Transcendence. The dialogues were all over the place; I had no idea what was going on a few times.
I loved the premise, I really liked it. The ending tried to redeem the movie and came close but unfortunately, failed. It was probably the most heart-wrenching and emotional scene in the entire movie. This is why I rate the movie higher than I should.
The message given was also not too bad: basically, to fear technology and what it can do. In fact, it was a good one.
There was a lot more stuff that I liked and didn't, but as a regular reader pointed out, I tend to give out spoilers so I won't. All you need to know is that this was an alright movie that should've worked but didn't and could've been way better than it was.
Overall rating: Three out of five stars (3/5)
Final comment: A one-time watch - that is, unless it is your guilty pleasure.
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