Tonight we saw Transcendence. It’s rather strange in that the trailer looked pretty good, but Rotten Tomatoes only had 19% of critics liking it. Did I like it? Yes indeed. I’m guessing that critics are ready for summer movies and that Transcendence did not feature Captain America jumping out of an airplane or yet another reboot of Godzilla. The movie probably erred on the side of intelligence. Somewhat quiet and somber, I see it as part of a long sci-fi tradition of technologies that go out of control, starting with Shelley’s Frankenstein, movies in the spirit of A. I., more than a little of The Forbidden Planet, Her and Max Headroom and with a touch of Philip K **** (Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep/Blade Runner) and our iFriend, Siri.
The movie starts at the end of the story, after a complete shut down of the digital world. This mess began in an artificial intelligence lab where Will and Evelyn Caster (Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall) are collaborating with Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman) in a project to design the ultimate high end computer. The project is disrupted, however, by a terrorist attack, staged by a mysterious anti-technology group that leaves Will with a terminal case of radioactive Polonium poisoning. In an effort to finish his AI project before he dies, Caster uploads his personality into this huge server, taking a shortcut to the super-intelligent computer….a big mistake.
Having spent my recent life in the IT world, the idea of a completely connected world, the evolution of systems that are constantly increasing in smartness and the pervasiveness of total information is not an alien concept. This story takes more than a few giant steps, past our world of redundant self-healing systems, ubiquitous connectivity (web-enabled coffee makers?), the surveillance society, “the internet of things” and 3D printers, to a world where an advanced transcendent and seemingly benign intelligence runs it all, including us… all for “our own good”. It’s not a new theme, but it’s an excellent variation on this 200 year old plot. This movie should be much more than a 19% movie. It may be too smart and threatening for its own good, but it’s well worth a view and will stir more brain cells than the usual summer popcorn flick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU
