I was really excited for Transcendence when I saw the trailer. It looked very interesting and I was excited to see how the movie would pull of a human turned AI story. And it looked like Johnny Depp was going to play someone less charismatic, which, to be honest, needed to happen eventually. I walked in hoping this would be a great movie. I walked out a sad, disappointed puppy.
This movie stars Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall as a married couple. And what do you know, they’re both scientists. Johnny Depp has a press conference in which he tells the audience that he has a vision of technically creating a god to have a watch over all the people to keep them safe. After the press conference, he’s shot with a bullet laced with radiation, in which he has 5-6 weeks to live. Then, his wife gets the idea to upload his consciousness to a computer. And then… stuff.
That’s really the best I can describe it. Why? Because this movie is so confusing. This type of movie is supposed to get you to think and to try to fit puzzle pieces together. That’s what a smart psychological movie should do. Transcendence tries way to hard to be smart and its logic becomes all over the place. If you think about this movie long enough, you’ll be able to dissect certain plot points to the bone and realize how little sense they make. This leads to lots and lots of plot holes throughout the entire movie.
The script in this movie is pretty weak. There are some lines that are just flat out dumb. For example, somewhere in the movie, Johnny Depp is able to use a different body to talk with the body can move its mouth and Johnny Depp’s voice come out. And he uses this to talk with Morgan Freeman. I can’t remember what Johnny Depp said, but he said something. Anyway, his wife brings Morgan Freeman’s character and Cillian Murphy’s character to the lab, where they see the visual representation of Johnny Depp’s character. And then, Morgan Freeman looks shocked and say, “Will?” That’s Johnny Depp’s character’s name is, by the way. So, here’s why this is dumb. Morgan Freeman already heard his voice through someone else’s body, so he should be able to expect that the consciousness of Johnny Depp is there. But no. He acts scared and surprised that he is still alive. That is just lazy.
The biggest problem Transcendence has lies in three words: It’s. So. Slow. I’m going to be honest here. This is probably the most boring sci-fi movie I’ve ever seen. It’s slow, uninteresting, and had me twitching in my seat, just anxious for something interesting to happen. Sure, there was a little bit of action, but here’s the thing; one, there were about two actions scenes in the movie with occasional punches or gun fires sprinkled in the rest of the movie. Two, the action scenes were very short. And three, every punch thrown and bullet shot lacked the impact that it should’ve had. Action is supposed to make you feel the pain along with the character. There’s as much impact as a fight in elementary school.
I also didn’t like the characters that much. They were all one dimension with no depth whatsoever. The worst offender is, actually, Johnny Depp. And yes, I know, he’s supposed to be. He gets turned into a supercomputer and supercomputers have no emotion. But I was thinking this before he was turned! His character was just so flat! Not only that, but some characters were there just to be there. There’s no rhyme or reason. They were just there to fill in extra screen time. And the sad thing is that that’s what Morgan Freeman’s character was reduced to. Yes. I said it. Morgan Freeman in this movie is absolutely useless.
However, there is one character, and actor, that I liked. In fact, he is actually the best part of this movie. It is Paul Bettany as Max Waters. I liked this guy. He was likeable, funny, had the most depth out of anyone, and had the best emotional scenes. This guy is a great actor and was easily the best thing in this movie.
He wasn’t the only thing I liked about this movie. I liked the cinematography. I thought it was shot well with lots of cool scenes. The special effects were pretty sweet. It was cool seeing all the particles fly into the sky, forming everything that was destroyed around it. It was a sight to behold.
I also liked the message of the movie, as paper thin as it may be. The message of this movie is that there is life after death. I think this is a great message to teach. If they developed it more, I probably would’ve liked this movie a little better. But sadly, it is what it is.
Overall, Transcendence was a huge disappointment. I wanted a smart, dark, and even creepy sci-fi movie. But instead I got plot holes and some extremely slow pacing. Do not go out and see it in theaters. Watch it at the dollar movie at most. And even that’s too generous. You might as well just give this movie a pass.
Score: 4.1/10
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