Surrogates: Critic Reviews

Surrogates leaves you wanting more, but is entertaining for the short run time.

There's fun robot stuff, some good philosophical ideas, and a brief, nutty Willis-Ving Rhames reunion 15 years after Pulp Fiction.

Bruce Willis has little to do but hit his predictable marks and mouth the generic dialogue.

There's enough sugar-rush energy on display to ensure it's never dull.

Despite bumpy execution likely to have detractors yelling "deja boo," Surrogates oozes possibilities.

Give credit to filmmaker Jonathan Mostow for keeping the movie on track; give credit to star Bruce Willis for keeping a straight face.

If robots had to make a movie without human help, Surrogates is what they might come up with. All the parts are visible, but there's no soul to be found.

Surrogates is entertaining and ingenious, but it settles too soon for formula.

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, how the poor are supposed to shell out for these high-tech androids, etc.

If the whole point of this surrogate society is to appear as a perfectly beautiful avatar, why would Bruce Willis choose that ludicrous blond wig that looks like he plucked it off a mannequin at Boscov's?

The film moves along so quickly, and the surrogate world look is so eerie.

A film about robots that might find its biggest fans among Luddites, Surrogates is an intense and eerily plausible sci-fi thriller.

Surrogates nudges the robo-thriller in an interesting direction.

For all the inspirations, the pieces of better stories that this tale was concocted from, Surrogates never manages to be anything more than a poor substitute for the real thing.

Surrogates bleakly satirizes our increasingly plugged-in world.

One of the year's more entertaining sci-fi films.

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?

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.

Whatever the reason, Surrogates was shielded from the eyes of critics before its opening, and that's a shame. Because, whatever its flaws, it is a good movie.

Just as the dystopian world the movie portrays is arid and specious, the movie itself is a mechanical sci-fi'er absent of logic or emotions.

The film isn't shy about its feelings about technology - it's time to unplug. It laments a culture that medicates pain away and has its head in virtual realms.

While the notion holds promise, the execution is strictly campy and adrenaline-driven.

Fails to land a killing blow that pays off the simplified mystery with any distinct urgency. It's a flawed film, but far from unbearable. Nothing a DVD director's cut couldn't fix.