Directed with loads of bizarre style by Jonathan Mostow, the man behind Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines among other 'big studio' productions, 2009's Surrogates is an interesting vision of a possible future where everyday people have stopped doing things like going to work and instead control surrogates from their own homes who basically do all their dirty work for them. Technology has advanced to the point where surrogates are cheap to make and cheap to own and are able to do more or less everything a living, breathing human can do. With everyone tucked safely inside their own homes and only the surrogates roaming the streets, there isn't much crime and murder is almost completely unheard of... until one night when a college student who turns out to be the son of the man responsible for creating the surrogates in the first place turns up dead.

Two F.B.I. agents named Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) and Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) are called in to investigate the situation. Their investigation takes them into the heart of a subculture opposed to the surrogates and everything that they represent. Lead by a 'prophet' (Ving Rhames) who may or may not be completely insane, this group appears to have been responsible for the murder but the further Greer and Peters get with their investigation, the more they have to wonder if there isn't a whole lot more to all of this than just the violent acts of some fanatics.

Surrogates take on where we're all headed is an interesting one. The surrogates themselves don't age and are quite perfect looking, allowing their owners to present whatever sort of ageless image they want. Youth and beauty are the rule, not the exception and it seems as if everyone in this movie is, to a certain extent, living a lie. You know how on social networking sites people only post pictures of their good sides? How everyone is presenting themselves in as good looking a light as possible? Mostow's film takes that concept off of sites like Facebook and slathers it across day to day society. It asks us to question what's real and what isn't, what is life and what is inevitable artificiality.

Heavily influenced by films like Blade Runner and I, Robot, Mostow's adaptation of the comic book by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele points a lot of fingers and makes a lot of social criticism without offering up any solutions or answers. Granted, when viewed as entertainment only it doesn't necessarily have to but the film's anti-technology message is seemingly at odds with the filmmaker's rampant use of CGi and digital filmmaking technology. Or maybe that's the point? It's hard to say, because as entertaining as Surrogates is on a surface level and as a piece of spectacle, its message gets confused and muddied. Perhaps it's all meant to serve as a vague warning of sorts, that if we allow ourselves to get so completely and entirely wrapped up in our online lives to the point where we can't leave the house without our mobile devices then this is what's around the corner for us, though the film fails to address just how the widespread adaptation of the surrogate technology happens as quickly as it does, what with it being set in 2017 - a future that isn't too distant at all, really.

Political leanings and societal meanderings aside, Surrogates is good entertainment. Willis is his normal likeable self, channeling Bogart at times and lending his naturally gruff screen presence to the picture quite well. His interaction with Mitchell doesn't feel too forced at all and you can buy the pair as partners. Ving Rhames steals the show with his supporting role, really escaping into the part to the extent that it might take you a while before you recognize him here. There's a lot of action in the film and it moves along at a very quick pace. The opening murder scene is done well and sets the stage quite effectively for the ensuring mystery to come. The cinematography is good and while the digitally altered faces are initially distracting, once you get used to them and accept them as part of this future world, they have an interesting effect in that they've asked you, the viewer, to accept the false surrogates in much the same way that the characters in the movie have.