Surrogates

I really enjoyed this film. Oh, sure, it's still the standard Sci-Fi cautionary tale: loss of humanity through overuse of technology. However, it's also a sad story of a married couple, who after losing their only child, retreat from each other emotionally, communicating only through their surrogates. Personal surrogates, operated their "owners" go to work and socialize. Operators experience daily life via their surrogate while isolated in their homes. Some humans reject the "surrogate lifestyle" and create their own "territories" where only humans may enter. When an operator dies while "linked" to his surrogate FBI agent, Greer (Bruce Willis), sends his surrogate in to investigate. His surrogate is destroyed by the humans there, but not before Greer disconnects from it. Willis does a good job playing deadpan surrogate Greer, but an excellent job playing the human Greer searching for connections with his wife and trying to get his wife step out from behind her surrogate to face their pain together. He is not the only human trying to deal with the death of a child. James Cromwell plays the inventor of the surrogates and even before his son dies (when his surrogate is killed) he regrets where his invention has taken human kind. Both men try to redeem themselves with varied success. I think this film has something to offer on many different levels. See it in the theatre for the action and special effects, or rent it for the story.
Check it out...I really enjoyed Bruce Willis in this film. Here's some more of his action: Armageddon (DVD ARM); Friends - the complete 6th season (DVD FRI); Pulp fiction (DVD PUL); The sixth sense (DVD SIX); Twelve monkeys (DVD TWE); The whole nine yards (DVD WHO); Die hard (VIDEO DIE); Mercury rising (VIDEO MER).

Poster courtesy of MSN Movies