Be scared to Deppth

Film Review: Transcendence (12a)
Running time 120 minutes
Rating:****
SOME of the best science fiction films are those that focus on normal human feelings and situations, but then marry them up to technology only just beyond our present abilities. Stretch the narrative and scientific possibilities too far and the film can look like movie version of a comic book, and that risks impressing – or frightening – no-one. Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, is a film of the former persuasion. It has a story only just beyond present day credibility, and is all the more effective at making us scared to death. Depp plays Dr Will Casper, a leading scientist in artificial intelligence, who, along with his devoted wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), believes that technology will provide the answers to all the world’s problems, so long as the people have the courage to embrace difficult choices. Along with other scientists, played by Morgan Freeman and Paul Bettany, they are on the verge of a breakthrough in AI, where a computer can be made self- aware and therefore in control of its own destiny. But problems come when, just before they achieve an all-important breakthrough, an anti-technology action group mount an attack. An attempt is made on Casper’s life and the events have a devastating effect on the research capabilities. Casper may have survived, but soon realises that the effect of the attack is to severely influence his life plans. A kind of salvation exists through technology but the differing threads of existence – in this case intellect versus human emotion – presents choices and challenges influencing not only his life but his and after-life too. The themes explored in Transendence are uncomfortable for the more thoughtful among us and the film has so far received a muted reception in America, which is a shame because it is an excellent movie and offers audiences something more than the crash, bang, wallop pictures presently dominating the schedules. Earlier, similar films such as The Lawnmower Man, made in the less sophisticated 1990s, asked the same sort of questions but had less impact because the perceived dangers were too far ahead for us to seriously contemplate. Now Transcendence has nudged us a little closer to decision time. Depp plays a man ‘living’ a dual existence with restraint and calm dignity, ably assisted by Morgan Freeman, the surefire casting ingredient to lend a film weight, and Paul Bettany, the British artist these days carving a decent living for himself in the United States. Having seen the Transendence’s special effects, the budget of $100m would seem to have delivered value for money, and the difficult task of making the science seem believable while sounding impressively complex, is confidently handled by writer Jack Paglan and director Wally Pfister, who cut his teeth on the equally complex Inception. Transendence is well worth seeing, one which will make you think about what the world of the future holds for us.