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Surrogates

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 49 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Brett Weldele (graphic novel)
Robert Venditti (graphic novel)
John D. Brancato
Michael Ferris
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 25, 2009
DVD: January 26, 2010
Running Time: 88 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene
Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Francis Ginty, James Cromwell, and Ving Rhames
People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates—sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery. (Touchstone Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Time Out New York Keith Uhlich
What follows is pulp made near-profound through director Jonathan Mostow’s sure-handed guidance.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's fun robot stuff, some good philosophical ideas, and a brief, nutty Willis-Ving Rhames reunion 15 years after "Pulp Fiction."
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Among cheesy sci-fi movies meant to make you think, I'll take Surrogates over "District 9." Both are highly derivative, but in the course of recombining the basic chromosomes of "Blade Runner," "The Matrix" and especially "I, Robot," Surrogates nudges the robo-thriller in an interesting direction.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
This represesents the smartest high-budget, high-profile science fiction film to have come along in quite some time.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Surrogates stays afloat by not taking itself too seriously, but also by recognizing that a movie about robots shouldn't look as if it were made by one.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Mostow's smart speculative suspenser imagines a time when people can live through ideal versions of themselves while they sit wired up at home.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Surrogates is entertaining and ingenious, but it settles too soon for formula.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Pinkerton
Willis is fine, both as his blond action figure (Zack Morris hair) and actual self, in trusty bruised palooka mode. Mostow does good meat-and-potatoes genre work, coherent even when reckless.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The questions the movie raises have less to do with science than movie execution: Do the actors sound so robotic because they are playing robots well or humans badly? And did a machine write this dialogue? If so, could we please apply for an upgrade?
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A reasonably watchable sci-fi B movie, a case of a good director and some intriguing ideas struggling to overcome formula plotting, limp dialogue, and a serious case of the sillies.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Relentlessly plods from one dour moment to the next, coming to life only in a late-film car chase that takes the possibilities of a world filled with robots to an absurd extreme.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
A mechanical sci-fi'er absent of logic or emotions. It functions as an expensive place-filler on the Disney release schedule and, as such, will be welcomed by only the least discriminating thriller fans.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
In this kind of industrial entertainment, particularly one that seems to be missing some connective narrative tissue, it’s hard to know if the writers or the director can be credited or blamed for what’s left on screen.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Robert Abele
An interesting idea, but unfortunately, the film's narrative and emotional engine operate as mechanically as the titular, dead-eyed glamazoids.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
An ambitious but sub-ordinary SF epic in which, as so often, Willis is better than his material.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
Surrogates, which borrows tone and content freely from "I, Robot," is all windup and no pitch.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The premise for this sci-fi actioner makes sense for about four seconds, after which you begin to wonder why everyone on the planet would willingly become a shut-in.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Dan Kois
Surrogates takes an interesting idea -- the triumph of technological convenience over grimy, workaday life -- and buries it under clumsy exposition, unconvincing action sequences and a by-the-numbers conspiracy plot.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The filmmakers were too busy throwing together potential blockbuster material to notice all the loose ends and gaping holes in logic. Which may, ultimately, explain why Willis looks so confused throughout. Maybe he, too, is straining to locate some intelligence amid all the machinery.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Surrogates' morality is less Asimov than asinine, although it's bizarrely reassuring, in a nihilistic sort of way, to believe that in the future, when the world is ready to play The Sims for real (so to speak), our avatars are all going to look like generic porn stars with shitty airbrush jobs.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jason C gave it a0:
I'm sorry but I really did not like this movie it was slow going and boring. I went with a friend because he wanted to see it if I wasn't with my friend I would have walked out. That is 88 min I will never get back.
Patrick L gave it a9:
Enjoyable movie. Created a hypothetical world where technology brings a complete transformation of life warning us of the potential dangers of the drastic evolution of society through adoption of technologies with unknown or complex societal consequences. More so, the setting of ubiquitous superficiality through a societal usage of a newly found technology reminds us of such classics as Huxley's Brave New World.
Sree K. gave it a6:
Just above average...the story was excellent but execution failed. acting was top notch but sometimes we feel that when the movie will end...the climax had a bit logic.. which gives the movie a blessing...otherwise just passable...surrogates should have improved.
Philip gave it a2:
Yawn... It's sad that movies as dull and limp-wristed as this are still made. What's worse is that Bruce involved himself with this crap. Avoid if you have taste.
Shamim A. gave it a6:
Nice SCI FI. though it has some I-ROBOTish issue! but the story was good. this movie needed some more. explanations. Bruce willies! rocks!
Angela F gave it a10:
Interesting take on the future obsession for physical perfection.
Sean is my name gave it a6:
I got through about half of this movie before I decided to go watch old episodes of "The Outer Limits" instead. Considering how weak the storyline was, I'd say that's a pretty good compliment to Bruce Willis' acting. Damn, he still has those fine, broad shoulders. Sometimes a Bruce Willis fantasy is the only thing that gets a guy through a long day at the office, ya know? The movie gets a 10 for Bruce and a 2 for plot. That averages out to a 6.
