Surrogates is a 2009 science fiction film, based on the 2005–2006 comic book series of the same name. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, it stars Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell. The film revolves around the mysterious murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon that allows people to purchase unflawed robotic versions of themselves. These fit, good-looking, remotely controlled machines ultimately assume their life roles, enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Surrogates was released on September 25, 2009 . Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell, Jack Noseworthy, Ving Rhames, and Boris Kodjoe co-star.

Plot

In the future, use of remotely-controlled androids called "surrogates" allows everyone to live in idealized forms in the safety of their own homes. A surrogate's operator is protected from harm and does not feel any pain when their surrogate is damaged. FBI agent Tom Greer has a strained relationship with his wife due to the death of their son several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies.

Greer and his partner, Jennifer Peters, investigate the death of two people who were killed when their surrogates were destroyed. One of the victims is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter, the inventor of surrogates. Greer and Peters determine that an anti-surrogate, Miles Strickland, used a unique weapon that overloaded the surrogate's systems and disabled the fail-safe mechanisms that shield an operator from harm. Greer pursues Strickland into a reservation for other anti-surrogates, called Dreads. Greer's surrogate is eventually destroyed, forcing him to interact in the world without one. The Dread leader, the Prophet, kills Strickland and takes the weapon.

Agent Greer learns that the weapon was produced, under a government contract, by the same company that produces the surrogates. It was designed to load a virus which would overload the surrogate's systems thus disabling it. The unexpected side effect was that the weapon disabled the fail-safe protocols that keep the surrogate's operator safe. After the first test, the project was scrapped and all prototypes were destroyed except for one.

Agent Peters is killed and her surrogate hijacked by an unknown party, who informs Greer that Andrew Stone, their boss, supplied Strickland with the weapon and ordered the assassination of Dr. Canter, who has been increasingly critical of surrogate use. His son was killed instead. The Prophet orders that the weapon be delivered to Peters before being shot during a military raid on the Dread reservation which reveals that he is also a surrogate.

Greer heads to the home of Dr. Canter, who has been controlling both the Prophet and Peters. Using Agent Peters' surrogate in FBI Headquarters, Dr. Canter uses the weapon to kill Stone and proceeds to upload the virus to all surrogates, which will destroy the surrogates and kill their operators. Believing that his plan is unstoppable, Canter disconnects from controlling Peters's surrogate and swallows a cyanide pill. Agent Greer takes control of the surrogate and, with the assistance of the network's system administrator, insulates the virus so the operators will survive. Agent Greer faces a choice to either destroy all the surrogates or cancel the virus upload. Greer eventually chooses to let the virus permanently shut down every surrogate worldwide. People then begin to emerge without their surrogates, confused and afraid of what just happened.

Greer goes back home and sees his wife in her real form. The film ends with an aerial view of all of the collapsed surrogates along with overlapping news reports of the downed surrogates and how people are now "on their own" again.

Cast

* Bruce Willis as Agent Tom Greer, an FBI agent who investigates the murder of others' surrogates

* Radha Mitchell as Agent Jennifer Peters, Agent Greer's partner

* Rosamund Pike as Maggie Greer, Agent Greer's wife

* Ving Rhames as The Prophet, a cult figure who disdains surrogates and plans an uprising later to be revealed as a surrogate controlled by Dr. Lionel Canter

* Boris Kodjoe as Andrew Stone, Peters and Greer's supervisor at the FBI. He serves as a major antagonist of the film.

*Trevor Donovan as Surrogate Tom Greer

* Jack Noseworthy as Miles Strickland, a man hired to kill Canter.

* James Cromwell as Dr. Lionel Canter, the inventor of the surrogates, and the film's main antagonist.

* Michael Cudlitz as Colonel Brendon

* Cody Christian as Boy Canter

Production

In March 2007, Disney acquired feature film rights to the 2005–2006 comic book series The Surrogates with the intent to distribute under Touchstone Pictures. The project was conceived by Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks (Handelman's wife who is better known for her acting), and they enlisted producer Todd Lieberman to move it forward. Under Disney, Jonathan Mostow was attached to direct the film based on an adapted screenplay by Michael Ferris and John Brancato. The following November, Bruce Willis was cast to star in the lead role. Filming was scheduled to begin in February 2008 in Lynn, Massachusetts. It was delayed, beginning on April 29, 2008 in Woburn. Filming took place in the Massachusetts cities Worcester, Milford, Hopedale, Taunton, Lawrence, and Wayland. Visual effects were handled by Sandbox FX, Brickyard VFX, Industrial Light and Magic and Moving Picture Company.

Music

The score was orchestrated by composer Richard Marvin. Surrogates is the fifth film that director Jonathan Mostow and composer Richard Marvin have collaborated on. Marvin recorded his score with an 120-piece orchestra of the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The soundtrack was released on November 24, 2009.

Track listing:

# "Drive to Club" (1:41)

# "Cam’s Apartment/Greer’s Apartment" (4:06)

# "Warrant/Foot Chase" (6:24)

# "The Rez" (3:17)

# "Prophet Lies/Greer Rides" (1:32)

# "I Want You" (2:12)

# "Hard Liquor/Peters Morphs" (1:43)

# "Stone’s Headache" (3:06)

# "Operation Prophet" (1:51)

# "Gotta See Your Boss" (1:51)

# "Shift Enter" (5:31)

# "Aftermath" (5:21)

Running Time: 38 minutes and 35 seconds

Release

The world premiere debuted at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on September 24, 2009. The film was released the next day in North American cinemas on September 25, 2009 by Touchstone Pictures. The DVD & Blu-ray was released on January 26, 2010. The Blu-ray version features four deleted scenes, a commentary by director Jonathan Mostow, and 2 featurettes.

Reception

Critical reception

Reviews for Surrogates were mixed. As of May 25, 2010, review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 39% of critics gave the film positive ratings, based on 105 reviews, while the "Top Critics" gave it a rating of 43% with a consensus that "Though it sports a slick look and feel, Surrogates fails to capitalize on a promising premise, relying instead on mindless action and a poor script". Metacritic gives the film an average score of 45, based on 21 critic reviews. IGN gave the film a 6.0/10, saying that it provides a competently made, relatively predictable and slickly presented piece of genre entertainment, offering just the right amount of action beats and futuristic visuals to keep the viewer engaged without ever having an actual thought. It's good, escapist fun. Yahoo! Movies currently reports a grade of "C+" based on 10 reviews.

Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four. Ebert states that Surrogates is entertaining and ingenious, but it settles too soon for formula. While more ambitious than it has to be, the film descends into action scenes too quickly. He also says that the concept, based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, would lead naturally to intriguing considerations., Chicago Sun Times,