Transcendence

This movie only hightens my hatred for present day Depp acting

This movie begins with Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) working on research for an omniscient, sentient Artificial Intelligence. He is a famous man in his field of work, alongside his wife Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall) supporting him every step of the way. All seems to be going well for him until (about fifteen minutes into the film) a terrorist organization dedicated to Anti-Technology wipes out every single lab researching AI. During their raid of mayhem they shoot Will with a "poison" bullet and give him a month to live (guess they were going overboard on making sure this guy died). Luckily enough we find out that Will has been doing research on putting a human being's consciousness into a computer system. His wife (desperate to hold onto her husband) puts his brain into the computer system, then proceeds to put him online. The worry facing most people is that the man she put into the machine is not the man she (or any of them) knew and it could usher in a technology driven apocalypse (Skynet).

I think this is the worst part about watching previews for a movie, I had such high hopes for this. I wanted to see a "Ghost in the Machine" type of movie, with Johnny Depp as the lead (where he wasn't playing a crazy asshole aka Jack Sparrow, and didn't have any creative influence over the film). Instead I got a movie that was so far up its own ass with its own message I am surprised that the dialogue wasn't just the sound of toilet water splashing. I don't think I have seen a movie this pretentious in a while (I can't say why or it will "ruin" the movie for some people, but seriously it is bad) and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see something like this in my lifetime. It tries to be smart and thought provoking, but it tries to hard and just comes across as bland and uninteresting (worse it comes off as stupid). I could blame a lot of things for this happening, but I can just smell Johnny Depp's hand at work hear somewhere. You will know what I am talking about, but I can just tell that someone somewhere asked Johnny for advice on the story line (because he is such a "creative mind" and all). Even if he didn't have anything to do with the story line it was all very self righteous and annoying and drove the whole movie into a downward spiral. Right now, this movie is the equivalent to asking a celebrity what they think about politics, and they just start quoting XYZ news network. This movie tries to seem very smart, but just ends up seeming dumb. We get it. Technology bad. The least this movie could do is not cop out at the end on of the movie  in regards to its own message.

Let's talk about the acting, I know this is what a lot of people are looking forward to hearing. Yes, this is another in a long line of bad acting movies for Johnny Depp. I know there are a lot of people out there that still love him with all of their hart, and they think he can do no wrong but he has been horrible lately. I was hoping this movie would break character for him, allow us to see a Johnny Depp from the past. I wanted "Secret Window" Depp, or "Fear and Loathing" Depp, hell I'll even take "Once upon a time in Mexico" Depp; but it seems the stench of Tim Burton/"Pirates" Depp is here again. He plays a scientist, but a disconnected scientist (apparently incapable of expressing emotion). I didn't see any spark in his eye for his wife, and he was supposed to be doing most of what he was doing as the AI for her. He just seemed annoyed when he was around her, not in love.
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oh, I'm sorry were there other actors in this? Didn't notice. The only other actors that got decent screen time were Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall and Kate Mara (Kate Mara somewhat I mean). Paul Bettany actually played his part quite brilliantly, Rebecca Hall was good at conveying loss (and her refusal to come to terms with it), and Kate Mara..... oh well, she was just... so....pretty? No one got the screen time they deserved in this.That unfortunately goes for Cillian Murphy as well (one of my favorite actors) serving as our cop for this train wreck.

The only thing I can say in the positive for this movie (a microscopic drop in the pool of awfulness that was this film) is the graphics were neat. This is exactly how I would picture Nano technology being used. This is exactly the purpose I thought it would be used for, and seeing it in action was pretty awe inspiring. It kind of makes you want this technology just so you can have Wolverine's healing factor. Aside from that the movie was garbage.

Now I know that this opinion is not going to reach a lot of you like it did me (mainly because this is the first movie I saw with friends since I started this blog), but you have to understand that I don't like being talked down to. I don't like a movie pretending intelligence and trying to hold that over the audience. That is why "Children of Men" didn't work for me, that is why "Terminator: Salvation" didn't work for me (beyond the other obvious flaws in both of those films). These movies spend so much time trying to get their message across that they forget that they are supposed to be entertaining somewhere. That is the biggest mistake a movie can make, losing sight of the original goal for the audience. I would have loved this movie if it actually was Skynet going live (or something ridiculous), before I would love a movie that was being so condescending. I know when I say this the immediate reaction by most is "aww man he was too stupid to get the plot, and just wanted action." No. This is not the case. I love smart movies, but this movie was trying so hard to persuade us it was smart when really it was stupid. It's like being talked down to by a plumber when you are having a problem with your television. It may know a bit about nano tech, but doesn't seem to know how the internet or anything else electrical really works. There are a lot of other points that prove what I am saying, but you will honestly have to see the damn thing to understand what I am saying.

Final Verdict: Pirate It! Only thing that saved this from my worst rating was seeing nano tech in action. I reserve my "Don't do it" rating only for the absolute worst of movies. To me this is strike three for Depp (First "The Rum Diary," second "The Lone Ranger"), he is now reaching the level of actor I just don't want to see in film.