By Kyle Osborne
“Transcendence” comes out of the chute with crackling energy and the promise of a good premise, but don’t get your hopes up—less than half way in the film collapses into camp and never recovers.
Johnny Depp plays Dr. Will Caster, a real expert on Artificial Intelligence. He and his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) are a Silicon Valley power couple who, apparently, have their hearts in the right places. They envision a time when A.I. will help “change the world”- An idealistic-sounding phrase that will come true with devastating consequences.
When the eccentric scientist is struck down by the bullet of an anti-technology assassin, he doesn’t die on the spot—rather, he contracts radiation poisoning from the bullet. I was going to say it’s a fate worse than death, but I should say that it’s worse than instant death. But like so many devices that reduce the plot to the narrative tail wagging the dog, it has to happen that way or the movie stops dead in its tracks.
Knowing that the poisoning will kill him soon enough, Depp and Hall will join with their friend, played by Paul Bettany, to “upload” all of Depp’s words, memories, knowledge—essentially everything in his brain that makes him who he is, into a computer program thingie that will keep her beloved husband “alive”, in a manner of speaking.
But is that really him, or is it just a series of numbers and codes simulating who he was? The point, I think, of the plot, is to ask that very question and, possibly, give us some answers. But speaking of “artificial”, “Transcendence” is so clumsy and “cut and pasted” that the story never feels organic, ironically. And moviegoers can tell when a screenplay or a director, in this case Jack Paglen, is cheating in the ways of storytelling. You can’t just say, “and next thing you know, the Mrs. has bought a town in the middle of nowhere to build a huge complex, in which she’ll house the virtual Depp and conduct his good works.” No, you have to get from one point to another in a credible way. For me, “Transcendence” jumped the shark at a certain point like this and I thought, “Well, there’s no coming back from that, but I’ll keep an open mind.”
Perhaps the filmmakers also thought, well, we jumped one, we might as well keep the crazy going at this point, because the film is filled with so many unintended laughs in the second half that it may well incite heckling from the audience.
A good film can make you believe anything, but “Transcendence” is never able to reboot itself and get back on track—so not only do you stop believing the story, but you start disbelieving the stuff you accepted as possible in the beginning. And no point is ever made with a light touch, when a sledgehammer will do. This thing is more heavy-handed than The Hulk wearing iron mittens.
“Transcendence” is rated PG-13 and gets 1 ½ Stars out of 4.