Review of Transcendence (2014) by Harry W — 13 Sep 2014

Starring Johnny Depp, Transcendence fascinated me simply to see him in action.

Transcendence offers a lot of questions because the premise explores the idea of humanity and artificial intelligence as well as the way that they can coincide as a single entity. This concept has been lightly touched upon in many other films, but the actual idea of combining artificialy intelligence with a genuine human mind is explored in a way not familiar to me. I've seen ideas like this explored in films like the great science fiction thriller Source Code and even in the science fiction cult classic Tron. But Transcendence was the first film to go into a detailed exploration of what would happen if human consciousness could be uploaded to a computer and used as part of its general functioning. The film questions whether this remains human consciousness or simply a program and therefore questions what defines human consciousness which makes it a film whcih presents a compelling case. Transcendence is a far from perfect film, but is raises a lot of interesting ideas and concepts about what technology could evolve into one day, and it is one of the most original concepts I ahve seen used to explore the issue in such a long time. And while the story may not be perfect because it presents a lot of questions but doesn't answer all of them, it is a seriously thought provoking film which uses scientific insight and strong technical aspects to project a vision of a future that is more overrun by technology than the one we currently live in.

And the imagery in Transcendence is terrific. For director Wally Pfister's first film as a director, he remains the strong visual artist which his won him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the past. As well as bringing over some excellent cinematography, Wally Pfister is able to use Transcendence as a chance to build a strong production design and place it against the backdrop of some nice scenery to establish a convincing future for the film. All the imagery in the film looks excellent, and it is helped further by the magnificent quality of the visual effets in the film. As a visual experience, Transcendence is excellent and shows just what kind of skills Wally Pfister has to offer as a filmmaker and it makes the film a worthy experience. The visual elements of Transcendence are surely their best qualities.

Tanscendence makes its case simply as a dramatic film and a science fiction thriller, but it fails to really work on a human level. The characters in the film really aren't that interesting. While the concept in the film is strong, it is hard to really feel sympathy for any of the characters because they end up paper thin and as artificial as the technology in the film. Transcendence is so caught up in being a techno-thriller that it forgets to maintain a human side to it, and I was too busy asking questions about what the film was saying about where technology is taking the future to really establish a connection to the characters. It is hard to feel a personal connection to the film because its thoughts are complicated but not really that emotionally deep, so the characters in Transendence are not that well crafted by the script. One of the main flaws in the film is the relationship between Dr. Will Caster and his wife Evelyn Caster which is played out as tediously sentimental a lot of the time, and the way that their love for each other plays into the movement of the story in terms of the society it depicts is ridiculous. The characters in Transcendence are poorly conceived and so many of them have ridiculouso motivations, so it tends to do nothing but make the premise less sensible and more convoluted. Transcendence bares no benefit from what its characters bring to the narrative.

And also, while the film spends so much time asking a lot of questions about what a technologically overloaded future would be like, it ends rather abruptly. It isn't as bad as in many other films, but it feels like there was so much buildup to a climax which never really came to a sufficient end and closed on an overly sentimental note. For a mostly technical film, it closes on a character level. Like I said, the characters are weak so it doesn't end on the best note that it could have.

But the cast in Transcendence manage to make a good effort.

Johnny Depp is great in the lead role in Transcendence. In the part of Dr. Will Caster, he is easily able to project his words with a sense of wisdom and passion which conveys the idea that he really understands the concepts that the script explores. And when his character transitions into the mind of a computer, he easily conveys a loss of a touch with human emotion to suggest that he really has become a program. Johnny Depp does a really good job conveying a stoic level of emotions in his role which keeps him subtle but clear, and he saves them more for his facial expressions. You can see the emotional state of Dr. Will Caster hidden beneath his exterior, and even though he remains rather monotonous, it is key to the character. As Dr. Will Caster fuses with the artificial intelligence of his own computer program, he loses touch with part of his humanity. And Johnny Depp plays that part so that it is convincing and strong. Johnny Depp is a great lead in Transcendence because he takes off all the makeup and costume for once and works in a complex film, and it works very well.

Rebecca Hall is also excellent. She proves time and time again to impress me as an actress because even though her character is a ploddingly sentimental one, she is able to act exceptionally well in the part. She delivers all of her lines with dedicated dramatic passion and strongly conveys the emotional stress of being in her position through her physical state. Her chemistry with the other actors is really powerful because she maintains the appropriate level of dramatic tension in the part really consistently. Rebecca Hall makes a strong lead in Transcendence and is able to create the most compelling character in the film due to putting a really powerful level of humanity into the part.

Morgan Freeman is also a good presence as always.

So Transendence fails to work on a human level due to having thin characters and plodding sentimentality as part of the story, but it is a very thought provoking and underrated science fiction thriller with impeccable imagery and a very interesting view of the future and what technology presents to the world.