Transcendence

Directed by:

Wally Pfister

Starring:

Johnny Depp

Rebecca Hall

Cillian Murphy

Morgan Freeman

From the start we are told that this is a movie of thought, where philosophy replaces action, not that that's a bad thing but it sets the tone of little drama from the outset. This means that when the drama comes it’s authentic, surprising and its effect is magnified by the suspense.

The cusp and meat of this film occur in your own imagination. Your mind is encouraged to wander, to wonder and to second guess and you will be wrong, mark my words. The suspense we spoke of only serves to fuel the fires of curiosity

Never mind that the characters routinely test on animals or that they themselves play god, crossing all kind of moral boundaries you genuinely care about them, all of them, well most of them, but I shan’t spoil it!

This movie is one part AI, one part Twelve Monkeys, one part the more thought provoking moments of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and is topped off with a generous dollop of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Rebecca Hall, of The Town fame and love interest here, just has too many teeth in her head, trust me - it's true, it's damn true!

Morgan Freeman plays his usual character, ie: Morgan Freeman. By the way, he's really tall, like 6ft 2in. When did that happen?

Johnny Depp's character is admirable and he plays the part quite well which is worrying. He is far too Hugh Grant and not enough Edward Scissorhands in this role. But he remains the awkward quirky Brit for only a short time, eventually we get the brooding intelligent confident charismatic man those looks and talents should dictate. Eventually he transcends (get it?) into a shell of a man, somewhere between Jeff Goldbloom's Fly and Christian Bale's Dark Knight. High praise indeed...then again that’s hardly surprising given that Christopher Nolan produced!

This is a rare serious role from the modern Depp and one that sees him return to the dark mysterious roles that fit his personality and more specifically; don't call upon him to pretend he's a drunk pirate with a lot of eyeliner, for some reason. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and Benny & Joon leap to mind throughout.

This movie is brave and breaks boundaries that high profile movies usually avoid. It questions the stages of grief that it is accepted that we shall experience or may be unfortunate to have gone through already. It also asks the most difficult of questions to face, when does one let go?

For that and posting the genre-old question of the moral implications of artificial intelligence, I commend Transcendence.

Rating: UUU

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU