Surrogates

Looks very interesting. I see what you mean about the whole living virtually through another body, but I think Avatar will be different in so many other ways that this one little similarity will not be a big deal. When I saw this trailer I was thinking the concept feels more like The Matrix than Avatar. Actually, I'm also getting an AI and I Robot vibe here too.

The thing that feels off is that in this premise it seems that the entire world lives through these surrogate bodies. That seems too conceptual of an idea. Wouldn't some people choose to be normal? Wouldn't a vast majority of the population not be able to afford a surrogate? Maybe the film will reveal that to us, but the trailer implies that everyone has a surrogate. If this is the case, I think it would be more interesting if only the super wealthy could afford a surrogate and the masses would just have to look on in envy or disgust at the technical marvels and abominations that walk amongst them. I haven't read the graphic novel, so I don't know very much about the world this film takes place in.

Definitely weird seeing Bruce Willis with hair, and blonde to boot. Maybe that is their intention, to make his robot version a bit strange since we are all used to bald Bruce Willis.

I too feel that they gave away too much in the trailer.
 
Interesting premise that probably doesn't hold up to too much scrutiny. Of course, that's just based on what was presented the trailer.
 
David Jimerson said:
Interesting premise that probably doesn't hold up to too much scrutiny. Of course, that's just based on what was presented the trailer.
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I agree. First murder in 15 years. Come on. People, I'm sorry... surrogates would end up breaking into people's homes and apartments to steal stuff, and along the way someone would just decide to kill the real person sitting in their controller rig simply because they can get away with it. Some sick minded surrogate operators would get bored with trashing their own or others' surrogate bodies and would start to kill the real people all before 15 years had passed.

Also, the problem I have with this is that besides Bruce's blonde mop, wouldn't the world look so much different than it looks in the trailer? What they've shown us looks the same as any old big city in the present day. The shot with the helicopters flying over the city is using an old model of chopper, the CH-47 Chinook, while still in active service was introduced in 1962. They could've at least used something that looked a little more futuristic.

The technology to have these surrogates won't be available in the ways they show for quite some time. If and or when it does become available, not everyone will have access to it unless we move towards a Roddenberry-like utopia. Again, that would only be credible if they set this film way way into the future with a production design to match. I'm all for what Aliens, Firefly, and BSG championed with their "relatable futures" but this story seems to need a truly distant future aesthetic like Star Trek, Blade Runner, or THX-1138 had.

Also, wouldn't it be more interesting to have the story be about a guy whose surrogate breaks, is damaged, or is destroyed and he has to venture out into the real world but he's never been out there in like a decade, since everyone just orders their food and basic necessities online to be delivered by an automated surrogate or a simple delivery robot? He could encounter the same world he is used to walking around, but now he is afraid because he's vulnerable. He could even be confronted by a normal person he's wronged or taken advantage of in the past through his superior surrogate, since I'm thinking the real people behind the surrogates are pale and physically weak and unattractive while their surrogates can be perfect looking examples of an idealized human form.

The whole murder plot seems generic and like it is grasping way too hard to be high concept.
 
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