I did not find a thread on this movie already, so I apologize if my searching efforts just missed it.
So, I watched Transcendence. These comments should be mostly spoiler-free since they are general or are about things that happen right at the start. I will still mark them as spoilers just in case.
First off, I am not even commenting on whether things were realistic or whether there were plot holes in the technology that would be involved, since I basically treated it as scifi/fantasy and I don't think that sort of thing usually bothers me.
The bad: I disliked how the movie seemed to basically portray people carrying out organized plots
It reminds me uncomfortably of the class war going on with people destroying property or assaulting others in the Silicon Valley / Google areas.
The funny: My understanding is that a long-time cinematographer directed this movie, and it shows. It's chock full of entertaining experimental-film style crazy camera shots and effects. Super depth of field, BAM! Slow-motion water droplet, POW! Slow, long shot with everything out of focus, BOOM!
The good: I thought Rebecca Hall was pretty much a perfect choice for this. (Oh hey, she was in the Prestige, a movie I liked.) She did a decent job of portraying the love, conflict, sadness, fear, and hope that might be involved in that sort of situation. Johnny Depp was decent, though of course it feels sort of weird to have Jack Sparrow even trying a serious movie.
Overall, certainly not an awesome movie, but treated as a sad love story that provokes some thought about technology, it has some poignancy.
So, I watched Transcendence. These comments should be mostly spoiler-free since they are general or are about things that happen right at the start. I will still mark them as spoilers just in case.
First off, I am not even commenting on whether things were realistic or whether there were plot holes in the technology that would be involved, since I basically treated it as scifi/fantasy and I don't think that sort of thing usually bothers me.
The bad: I disliked how the movie seemed to basically portray people carrying out organized plots
to (successfully) KILL academic researchers as good, or even heroic...not even because of what they had done, but because of what they were AFRAID would happen.
The funny: My understanding is that a long-time cinematographer directed this movie, and it shows. It's chock full of entertaining experimental-film style crazy camera shots and effects. Super depth of field, BAM! Slow-motion water droplet, POW! Slow, long shot with everything out of focus, BOOM!
The good: I thought Rebecca Hall was pretty much a perfect choice for this. (Oh hey, she was in the Prestige, a movie I liked.) She did a decent job of portraying the love, conflict, sadness, fear, and hope that might be involved in that sort of situation. Johnny Depp was decent, though of course it feels sort of weird to have Jack Sparrow even trying a serious movie.
Overall, certainly not an awesome movie, but treated as a sad love story that provokes some thought about technology, it has some poignancy.
