Poster- Boring, pixelated technique makes it look tacky along with the text across the actors face. I think they could of been a little more innovative rather than slapping some words across the main characters face. The tag line, just makes you think "And what?" What about it, its left you waiting for something else to let you know what the film is trying to say.
Johnny Depp interview-
Transcendence Trailer-
I found Johnny not as enjoyable to watch in this film compared to his others. You can see a trend that he likes to play a lot of characters who consider themselves outcasts, but in this film his character is seen to be quite popular in his field and only disliked by a small extremist group. I think what i missed especially was the depth and vulnerability he has portrayed previously in his past characters, this character was mostly very clinical and straightforward (as you would be if you were a computer granted), and it just made me feel unconnected to his character. I can’t blame it all on Johnny though, the script only allowed sparse moments of emotion towards his love interest Evelyn played by Rebecca Hall. I would have like to see some torment woven through the script, if conscious thought was meant to feature in this character maybe we should of seen some more struggle, was it right to commit fraud, was it right to create super humans. What bothered me was how easily Evelyn went along with everything. Yes, Will I will take these millions of pounds and build thousands of solar panels in this deserted town, which by the way still looked the same when she promised a resident a makeover. Yes Will, I will not bat an eyelid with all these reformed humans.
I think they could of made a bigger deal about the extremist group. In terms of from my point of view I would have liked to of seen some dialogue between Kate Mara’s character Bree and Dr Will Caster. They were fighting for a cause and in the end it was just weak. Another thing I was thinking when watching this film was why aren’t the media making such a big deal out of this, the media is one for sensationalism and what better story to have than a man who can suddenly lift tonnes of metal in the air. Or how no one made a big deal about PINN, the computer getting stolen, or how someone was just allowed to take what they want from a seemingly secure environment. I like how they have tried to explore the power of technology and its ever increasing advances, but I found myself whispering swear words in the cinema at some of the ridiculous notions, although I wont give away what, some of the concepts just made me sit back and say, "What?!".
The one thing I appreciated the most in this film was the cinematography. The locations were stunning and the metaphorical symbolism of the conscious mind was great. The fragility of Earth was also captured very well and the typography on screen was clever connecting the ‘human’ Dr Will in its encased computer.
Overall, I can see what they’ve tried to do, explore the powers of technology, touch on whether its right or wrong to advance in such a strong way, to question life and death, is it right to keep someone alive after they have died, in my mind no, that's just taking things too far. I thought the plot was following a Romeo and Juliet style romance, girl is trying to be taken away from boy, boy wants to be with her, conflict followed by a subdued ‘dramatic’, death scene at the end. And maybe more conflict needed to be added to the plot, since they stated themselves in the summary for this film, ‘For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can...but if they should,’ which did not happen as much as it should.
2/5 stars
(Why the long face?)
