Monday, July 14, 2014

Transcendence (2014)


"What if a new intelligence was born?"


Directed by Wally Pfister
Produced by Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosorve, Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino, Annie Marter, David Valdes, Aaron Ryder
Written by Jack Paglen
Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman
Music by Mychael Danna
Cinematography: Jess Hall
Edited by David Rosenbloom
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Summit Entertainment
Release date: April 18, 2014 (United States and China)
Running time: 119 minutes
Country: United States, China

"Transcendence" is a drama mystery sci-fi film directed by Wally Pfister and written by Jack Paglen. The plot is about a scientist, Dr. Will Caster, who is working on artificial intelligence, or in his words "Transcendence". His beloved wife Evelyn always supports him in any efforts. But one day the extremist group "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" (R.I.F.T.) shoots Will with an irradiated bullet. Therefore Caster starts to die - doctors gives him no more than a month to live. In desperation, Evelyn decides to upload Will's consciousness into the quantum computer that the project has developed. Everything succeeded, so she connects the computer intelligence to the Internet as to grow in capability and knowledge. But is this artificial intelligence Will in fact?


Cast
  • Johnny Depp as Dr. Will Caster
  • Rebecca Hall as Evelyn Caster
  • Paul Bettany as Max Waters
  • Kate Mara as Bree
  • Cillian Murphy as Donald Buchanan
  • Morgan Freeman as Joseph Tagger
  • Cole Hauser as Colonel Stevens
  • Clifton Collins, Jr. as Martin
  • Cory Hardrict as Joel Edmund
  • Josh Stewart as Paul


In my opinion, Wally Pfister's directorial debut has proved an amazing film. Yes, of course, it has some mistakes but they aren't considerable. The plot, the idea, the theme - everything transmits very well. Jonny Depp as artificial intelligence has turned out really engaging. On the on hand, his role astonished me, but on the other - frighten me. So I can see that Depp coped with his complicated part - only at the end of the film we can exactly say who is he actually: a villain or a hero. As for Rebecca Hall, I didn't enjoy her talent because her role was polysemantic: I hadn't seen the love of Evelyn to her husband. Frankly speaking, I've seen that her love to his brain, no more.

The idea of AL has always interested me. The perfect mind which can manage any problem. An utopia. This film showed the world which is ruled by artificial intelligence. But who is able to assert that it won't go out of control? And will someone be against this idea?


Advantages
  • Johnny Depp
  • Kate Mara
  • Cillian Murphy
  • Morgan Freeman

Disadvantages
  • The weak plot

"Strangenesses"
  • Why people do not want to live better?

Moments

  • Will's death
  • Will's comeback


Moreover, "Transcendence" gives some mental pabulum. The first thought is artificial intelligence, of course. Scientists all around the world seek decisions, try do their best and work on this question. The main problem, I think, is that nobody knows how is our consciousness organised. So one might say the time is not yet ripe for it.

Okay, even if this problem solves, where insurance arrangements that people will like AL? Most of them are too afraid of new things and they prefer being plebeians to becoming the next part of evolution. But their reluctance is understandable. When you got used to your life, it's really difficult to change something, isn't it? The fear of changes is intelligible. But why we can't just try? We will never know the exact result, if we don't even make an effort.

The third idea is faithfulness. When you have the aim in life, you should follow it. Just do. Even if you have problems, don't refuse your dream. Probably things, which seem bad, are good indeed.  So just believe and don't question a decision. When nobody supports you, anyway, don't doubt and go on your business.

And also: never betray the person who loves you. 


Soundtracks
  1. Mychael Danna - Transcend
  2. Mychael Danna - Far From What They Were
  3. Mychael Danna - Will And Evelyn
  4. Mychael Danna - Four, Maybe Five Weeks
  5. Mychael Danna - Building Will
  6. Mychael Danna - You Cannot Say
  7. Mychael Danna - Is Anyone There?
  8. Mychael Danna - Online Now 
  9. Mychael Danna - Reservation Under Turing 
  10. Mychael Danna - Get Off The Grid
  11. Mychael Danna - We Had Crossed The Line
  12. Mychael Danna - Building Brightwood
  13. Mychael Danna - Two Years Later
  14. Mychael Danna - Healing The Sick
  15. Mychael Danna - Why Are You So Afraid Of This?
  16. Mychael Danna - It's In The Rain
  17. Mychael Danna - The Only One He Trusts
  18. Mychael Danna - Found A Way Back
  19. Mychael Danna- Why Did You Lose Faith?
  20. Mychael Danna - I Can See Everything
  21. Mychael Danna - Always Was
  22. Mychael Danna - Garden


Quotations 
* * *
Max: The Internet was supposed to make the world a smaller place, but it actually feels smaller without it.
* * *
Will: For one hundred and thirty thousand years, our capacity to reason has remained unchanged. The combined intellect of the neuroscientists, mathematicians and engineers pales in comparison to the most basic A.I. Once online, a sentient machine will quickly overcome the limits of biology; in a short time, its analytic power will become greater than the collective intelligence of every person born in the history of the world. Some scientists refer to this as the Singularity. I call it Transcendence.
* * *
Evelyn: Where are you going?
Will: Everywhere.
* * *
Will: We're not going to fight them, we're going to transcend them.
* * *
Max: I spent my life trying to reduce the brain to a series of electrical impulses. I failed. Human emotion, it can contain illogical conflict. You love someone, and yet hate the things that they've done. A machine can't reconcile that.
* * *
Max: The Internet was supposed to make the world a smaller place, but it actually feels smaller without it.
* * *
You may see the trailer here.


Plot: 5/10
Entertainment: 6/10
Acting: 5/10
Originality: 5/10
Music and Sound: 5/10

5/10

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