Transcendence: Johnny Depp’s New Singularity Film [Almost] Transcends Technophobia
Transcendence is Johnny Depp’s new singularity film that comes out today.
I saw the film last night during its first available time-slot and, in order to avoid big spoilers, I want to write no more than a couple of vague sentences:
Let me admit that, after seeing the teasers and trailers below, I was very negatively predisposed and did not expect anything good. But I was pleasantly surprised because it was rather refreshing to see a mainstream Hollywood movie that was not made by sensationalist Luddites trying to make an easy buck by going for the lowest common denominator.
And so while the movie is by no means outstanding [or anything close to Her], overall it was pretty decent.
As my friend with whom I saw the movie observed: “The main idea was carried through rather well.”
And while the idea, that advanced technologies though often scary are not necessarily bad, is by no means unique or Earth-shattering in any way, it is one worth sending out into the mainstream of public consciousness. And this simple exercise is a considerable step up from the simplistic Terminator/hubris/end-of-the-world scenarios that have dominated science fiction since Frankenstein…
Synopsis: Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.
However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed – to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can… but if they should.
Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.
Transcendence co-stars Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara and Paul Bettany.
I call it Transcendence:
Transcendence: Humanity’s Next Evolution
Revolutionary Independence From Technology [RIFT]
Official Trailer 1:
Official Trailer 2:
