Transcendence (12 A) review
I’m a sucker for a big name – so when I heard Johnny Depp and Christopher Nolan were teaming up in Transcendence, I had to check it out.
Also starring Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany, this sci-fi flick – directed by Nolan’s Academy Award-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister (Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy) has pretty much everything going for it before a scene is watched.
But I have to admit that I’ve not left a cinema with such conflicting views on a film in quite some time.
The age-old ‘man versus machine’ genre is given a fresh take here, with the genuinely scary prospect of machines becoming self-aware the focus.
Depp takes the lead as Dr Will Caster, a brilliant artificial intelligence researcher who incurs the wrath of
anti-tech extremists.
When his life comes under theat, Caster’s wife Evelyn (Hall) and close friend Max Waters (Bettany) help him upload his mind into a pre-existing AI system in an attempt to preserve a version of his existence.
If you’re not already lost, the remainder of the film will certainly leave you scratching your head.
Without wishing to spoil, Depp’s digital self (of course) grows power hungry and a little out of control.
That brings Bettany and the slightly under used Freeman (a family friend of the Casters) and Murphy (seemingly the FBI’s main man) to the party as they bid to bring down the God-like machine.
While it may be confusing, Transcendence looks incredible – which is to be expected on a Pfister production.
Sadly, everything else is a bit muddled – and at times I was genuinely unsure as to what was going on.
Although muddled and lacking the usual class of a Nolan film (he took a back seat as executive producer), Depp’s performance alone makes this well worth a watch.
Rating: 3/5
Watched at West End Cinema, Boston
