Travers on Transcendence: Biggest Disappointment of the Year


Peter Travers has sky-high expectations on At The Moviesthis week: The film is Transcendence, which stars Johnny Depp, marks the directorial debut of Wally Pfister (the brilliant cinematographer behind Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy) and boasts a script thats long been on the Hollywood blacklist. Its the perfect recipe for a thrilling, provocative sci-fi flick about the dangers computers and technology but as Travers reluctantly admits,Transcendence is anything but transcendent.

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What I got was maybe one of the biggest disappointments of the year, he says. This thing just lies there on the screen.

In the film, Depp plays Will Caster, a scientist whos shot early on by members of RIFT, a group of technophobes willing to use violence to curb the computer sciences. While Caster survives the shooting, the bullet contains radioactive material that will kill his character in a matter of weeks. So Wills wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) decides to upload his brain into a computer theyve invented, leaving him to appear on a monitor throughout the rest of the movie. From his screen, this technological marvel builds an empire, but despite his initially positive intentions, the old saying proves true once again: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

And the movie goes on in that way where we keep saying to ourselves, This is so deeply silly, this is ridiculous,' Travers decries. Wheres it gonna go, wheres it taking me? Because every predictable thing that you think will happen does happen.

Morgan Freeman even shows up as Casters mentor and tries to convince Evelyn to leave the town where shes helping her computerized husband build this digital empire. He gives her a note that says Run from this place which, coincidentally, is exactly what Travers thinks you should do if you find yourself watching Transcendence.

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