Transcendence - Half Baked Cautionary Tale

Transcendence is a science fiction cautionary tale from first time director Wally Pfister. It tells the story of Doctors Will and Evelyn Caster, played by Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall, who are pioneers in the artificial intelligence field with a particular passion for creating one that is fully sentient. After Will is fatally poisoned by a rogue anti technology terrorist group, Evelyn makes the irresponsible decision to upload her husbands consciousness and thereby makes him a self aware intelligence system who is now omniscient throughout the internet and soon the world.

A cautionary tale of the risks that follow when human beings decide to play God is meant to be fascinating and raise intriguing questions that an audience can wrestle with; however Transcendence has a tragic weakness when the film fails to take a strong stance on what it actually thinks about the topic. At moments, Dr Will Caster's consciousness is making a positive difference and developing methods that can save ailing humans and the Earth itself. There is never a moment in the film when the audience is filled with real dread or concern at the thought that this advanced intelligence system will spiral out of control and hurt the human race. Nor are the human "antagonists" so unreasonable that they prove the the necessary of the intelligence system.

This issue is further perpetuated by the lack of development for the main character of Evelyn Caster, who has so many opinions and ideas at the beginning of the film but is rendered a useless puppet once her husband dies and she's moved like a plot pawn instead of an active character contributing to the story. The same can be said of supporting actors Paul Bettany and Morgan Freeman whose talents are reduced to lines of exposition.

While it's a pleasure to watch a science fiction film that tries to tackle an issue that is quite relevant in our technology obsessed culture, it is ultimately unfortunate when a plot about sentient intelligence fails to express its ideas clearly and ironically lacks the necessary self awareness. (C-)