Three stars. Rated PG-13, for sci-fi action and violence, brief profanity and mild sensuality
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 4.18.14
The White Queen in Lewis
Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass may have been able to believe as many as
six impossible things before breakfast, but smart screenwriters limit
themselves to one.
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| Expecting her former colleagues to be amazed, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) shows Joseph (Morgan Freeman) and Buchanan (Cillian Murphy) through the massive underground complex that has been built to her deceased husband's specifications ... via his AI avatar, who watches closely from a series of computer monitors. |
Meaning, viewers generally are
willing to stretch credibility and accommodate one massive leap of faith per
movie. Transcendence kicks off with an intriguing premise and rather quickly
unveils its fanciful notion. Fair enough: We buy it, for the sake of the
impending drama.
But first-time screenwriter Jack
Paglen doesn’t know when to quit. He piles absurdity atop contrivance, then
gets sloppy with logic, basic human nature and socio-political behavior. By the
third act, you’ll lose track of the glaring plot-holes.
Newbie director Wally Pfister
doesn’t do much to improve the situation; in fact, he makes it worse. While he
deserves credit for drawing compelling performances from his stars, Pfister
also succumbs to the weakness suffered by most cinematographers who insist on
helming a movie: too much reliance on arty scene compositions and camera shots,
and a smothering atmosphere of Great Significance.
Pfister is best known as director
Christopher Nolan’s visual amanuensis: the cameraman behind The Prestige, the
Batman trilogy and most particularly Inception, for which Pfister won an
Academy Award. He has given Transcendence the same labored,
walking-through-glue self-importance that made Inception such a chore to
watch.
Every scene seems to carry an
invisible subtitle: “This is really cool, and very important, so pay close attention.”
Yawn. Wake me when it’s over.
And, as is the case with many
first-time scripters, Paglen’s so-called “original” narrative begs, borrows and
steals from many other, better sources. Avid sci-fi buffs will recognize strong
elements from films such as 1970’s Colossus: The Forbin Project and 1974’s Phase IV, and books such as Greg Bear’s Blood Music and Michael Crichton’s Prey.
Finally, on top of all their
other sins, Paglen and Pfister open their film in the aftermath of horrific
events — thus ruining the suspense they quite easily could have built — and
then flash back five years, to show us how everything went to hell. That’s an
irritating cliché these days, and one that makes sense only if it later turns
out that assumptions derived from said prologue are inaccurate, as a result of
a clever twist.
No clever twists here. Just a long,
slow descent into sci-fi silliness.
