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Transcendence
Warner Bros. // PG-13 // July 22, 2014
List Price: $35.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Film:
The cast brought together for Transcendence plays like reunion of sorts for the supporting players in Christopher Nolan's oeuvre -- Rebecca Hall! Morgan Freeman! Cilian Murphy! -- gathering together with cinematographer from Memento and Inception, Wally Pfister, for his grand directorial debut. To say that he's picked a subject for his unveiling that's both ambitious and overdone would be an understatement: the translation of an organic mind into a digital format, and how the replication could prove problematic when the data starts to think, evolve, and take initiative. Enormous promise lies within the notion explored by this Johnny Depp vehicle, from the ethical boundaries crossed by creating a proxy for a person's consciousness to the practical possibilities unlocked by an artificial intelligence working to break mankind's limitations. The problem? Pfister's pedestrian direction, coupled with a rote and stiffly-conceptual script, reduces the material into a drab cautionary mindboggler without the proper substance to lend weight to its timely ideas.
Depp stars as Will Castor, a proponent and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence who's absorbed by the concept of a technological singularity -- or, what he calls "transcendence" -- the (dangerous) point when a self-aware computer exceeds the capable processing power of the human brain. While his agenda naturally garners the positive attention of forward-thinkers, including his loving wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max (Paul Bettany), he has also expectedly earned the scorn from those against the creation of hyper-advanced digital life, including the extremist anti-tech group R.I.F.T., or Revolutionary Independence From Technology. The group's resistance to his school of thought erupts in a series of terrorist attacks that level research branches across the globe, as well as an assassination attempt against Will that, through radiation poisoning, leaves him with a little over a month to live. Desperate to preserve him and his knowledge, Evelyn and Max reluctantly decide to take the research to the next level ... by uploading Will's consciousness.
Will Castor, as presented by the ever-subdued Depp, comes across as a dry, nondescript genius and quasi-celebrity, which both plays into the intentions driving Transcendence and frustrates in the process. There's little separating the actor's typical mannerisms -- low-key and aloof -- and the character he's portraying, rendering static sequences where he chats with his devoted wife and gives a talk at an independent TED-like financier event. It doesn't help that Castor gets swept up in screenwriter Jack Paglen's hamstrung
plotting towards his digital transition, swapping out some of the nuance in the topic's ethics and feasibility with the time-sensitive desperation in getting the forward-thinker's mind in the digital sphere before he expires. His meek behavior becomes an ambiguous element of the story once his consciousness goes online, yet it leaves one wondering whether the film might actually be more intriguing and pertinent had Castor been a more discernible and engaged personality.
What's frustrating about Transcendence is that the theories underneath Castor's transition are incredibly interesting on-paper, seen in motion once his presence crosses the digital threshold. Ideas are introduced about what'd happen if the upload of one's consciousness was in any way incomplete, whether their personality remains as a "ghost in the machine" after the transition, and how an unleashed, Internet-connected AI with specific personality and morality objectives would hand self-preservation ... and self-improvement. These aren't new concepts, of course, but they're becoming increasingly relevant with technology's advancement in the field, and they provide compelling science-fiction contemplations once the story gets beyond the tech used to make it possible. The combination of the script's cursory touches on that material and Pfister's protracted direction, however, delivers them in a dull and reflexive fashion, forcing the underlying gray-area themes -- both about the development of the Castor intelligence and the terrorist resistance to it -- to lose their assurance.
Transcendence's big disconnect lies in a void of emotional resonance from the perfunctory characters, where director Pfister relies too much on the concept to drive itself, closely mirroring -- and more accurately representing -- some of the criticisms lobbed at Christopher Nolan's films. With time, this electronic copy of Castor takes on a life of its own, exacting its own agenda that can be interpreted in a number of ways, both benevolent and malignant. A neutral adversary that's so clinical needs some kind of personal perspective
interacting with it to bolster the film's philosophical intentions, yet the bond between the intelligence and Evelyn hardly goes beyond her grim compliance and quietly emerging fear. Rebecca Hall musters an enigmatic and slightly empathetic presence as Castor's wife, whose despair over her husband's state understandably justifies her loyalty at the surface; however, the machinations of the eerily monotone proxy of Castor overbear the glimmers of intimacy between them, forcing the angle to be superficial storytelling instead of expressively dynamic. Everything else built around the situation is just as flaccidly one-note, from R.I.F.T.'s luddite agenda to the FBI investigation into their operations.
Under better circumstances, perhaps the shallowness could be excused in support of Transcendence's focus on the complexity and threat of Castor's escalating abilities itself, as the script takes some fantastical licenses with leaps in science -- across a healthy jump in time -- that shape him into an almost God-like entity. What occurs in the second half while exploring this possibility, however, borders on abuse of Arthur C. Clarke's laws of science-fiction, where the application of things such as nanotechnology, organic tissue repair, even artificial weather modification become unjustly interchangeable with magic or with the miraculous touch of a deity, only in the not-distant-at-all future. The situation's common sense slips from Wally Pfister's grasp into a messy mixture of Orwellian dystopia and consequentialism, with only far-fetched contrivances befitting a mindless blockbuster as a means of overwrought escape. It's a shame to see the potential within Transcendence fizzle into the digital ether in such a haphazard fashion, losing track of its deeper ruminations along with its prudence.
The Blu-ray:
Video and Audio:
Transcendence transmits onto Blu-ray in a 2.35:1-framed, 1080p AVC encode that, much like the film itself, fails to impress in areas where it really shouldn't. On the optimistic side, the palette mostly looks great, with engaging blasts of color -- the screen backdrop behind Castor and his partners, the green leaves and warm yellow of a sunflower, the orange flickers of fire, the redness of blood -- and warm, rich skin tones. A handful of fine details look strong, too, from the regenerative visual effects to the textures of clothing and digital infrastructures on display screens, while the response of light on skin surfaces and in Rebecca Hall's hair are moderately satisfying. Regrettably, the transfer also suffers from a handful of harsh, pronounced issues that overcome its positives: it has a moderately smooth digital appearance despite being shot on film, flattening nuanced details and washing away film grain; some instances of edge halos appear around details, noticeable in outdoor sequences; and, more significantly, the image's contrast frequently swallows up elements in its incredibly oppressive black levels. The result is certainly watchable and conveys the film's style well enough, but it's not as appealing as it likely should be.
Transcendence is essentially bookended with vigorous activity in its 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, with the broad middle section focused on the clarity of subtle sound effects and the resonance of vocal delivery. In the middle, the dialogue sustains a clear, cogent stream, with a booming presence in Digital Depp's vocal registry that capably mingles with Mychael Danna's moody pulse of a score. Sounds of robotic arms moving into place, of a plane landing, of sparks igniting and heavy beams being set in place during construction all assert capable, nuanced effects, with elegant separation at the front channels (especially during the hum of the outdoor panels). The rear channels see a pleasing amount of activity from the score and ambient sound effects, too, elevating the eerie mood. The disc truly flexes its muscle in the last thirty or so minutes, though, when aggressive explosions and artillery commingle with delicate flickers of Castor's techno-magic, though their aggressiveness comes across a little flatter than one might expect. Altogether, it's an engaging, clear sound design. English, French, and Spanish subs are available.
Special Features:
While the number of features available for Transcendence is numerous, the amount of content within each only amounts to less than twenty minutes of material, most of which are press-kit caliber bits that emphasize clips above actual insight and repeatedly -- and frustratingly -- retrace the same points. What is Transcendence? (5:20, 16x9 HD) features director Pfister, the actors, folks involved with the production and even scientific experts engaging in brief interviews that discuss the narrowing gap between biology and technology, piecing together into a collage of personal outlooks on the film's subject and plausibility of its first half. Wally Pfister: A Singular Vision (2:52, 16x9 HD) casually touches on the veteran filmmaker's transition into the director's chair for this specific story, Guarding the Threat (2:18, 16x9 HD) does the same thing with the ethical and emotional dangers of developing artificial intelligence, and The Promise of A.I. (2:34, 16x9 HD) emphasizes incredibly superficial comments from academic experts about the direction of the film's science.
Three quick viral videos -- It's Me (1:02, 16x9 HD); Singularity (1:09, 16x9 HD); and R.I.F.T. (:58, 16x9 HD) -- have also been included, along with two Theatrical Trailers (2:34, 2:34; 16x9 HD) and an Ultraviolet Digital Download slip. A DVD Copy rounds out the package.
Final Thoughts:
I've been a big fan of Wally Pfister's visual work for quite some time, and the scientific and ethical musings within the duplication and preservation -- on might say recreation -- of one's consciousness are rather fascinating to me. Therefore, the concept-heavy Transcendence is the definition of something that's right up my alley ... and it's disappointing to see the potential realized in such a dull, frosty, and skeptical end result. Sound ideas can be spotted in the story, about the boundaries crossed in Will Castor's transference and the lack of control once those boundaries have been crossed, and the acting talent's there for something special. Despite their best efforts, however, including Rebecca Hall who's captivating regardless of her character's context, Transcendence can't shake off the drawn-out and implausible sensations accompanying its sketchy take on the concept and thematic crossed wires, woefully passing up an opportunity at something smarter for unreasonable pseudo-science thrills and hollow dramatics. Even though it's only worth a Rental, it doesn't deter one from greatly looking forward to Rebecca Hall's future performances and Wally Pfister's return behind the camera, and I sincerely hope this doesn't prevent Hollywood from attempting to tackle the subject again.
Thomas Spurlin, Staff Reviewer -- DVDTalk Reviews | Personal Blog/Site
The cast brought together for Transcendence plays like reunion of sorts for the supporting players in Christopher Nolan's oeuvre -- Rebecca Hall! Morgan Freeman! Cilian Murphy! -- gathering together with cinematographer from Memento and Inception, Wally Pfister, for his grand directorial debut. To say that he's picked a subject for his unveiling that's both ambitious and overdone would be an understatement: the translation of an organic mind into a digital format, and how the replication could prove problematic when the data starts to think, evolve, and take initiative. Enormous promise lies within the notion explored by this Johnny Depp vehicle, from the ethical boundaries crossed by creating a proxy for a person's consciousness to the practical possibilities unlocked by an artificial intelligence working to break mankind's limitations. The problem? Pfister's pedestrian direction, coupled with a rote and stiffly-conceptual script, reduces the material into a drab cautionary mindboggler without the proper substance to lend weight to its timely ideas. Depp stars as Will Castor, a proponent and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence who's absorbed by the concept of a technological singularity -- or, what he calls "transcendence" -- the (dangerous) point when a self-aware computer exceeds the capable processing power of the human brain. While his agenda naturally garners the positive attention of forward-thinkers, including his loving wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max (Paul Bettany), he has also expectedly earned the scorn from those against the creation of hyper-advanced digital life, including the extremist anti-tech group R.I.F.T., or Revolutionary Independence From Technology. The group's resistance to his school of thought erupts in a series of terrorist attacks that level research branches across the globe, as well as an assassination attempt against Will that, through radiation poisoning, leaves him with a little over a month to live. Desperate to preserve him and his knowledge, Evelyn and Max reluctantly decide to take the research to the next level ... by uploading Will's consciousness.
Will Castor, as presented by the ever-subdued Depp, comes across as a dry, nondescript genius and quasi-celebrity, which both plays into the intentions driving Transcendence and frustrates in the process. There's little separating the actor's typical mannerisms -- low-key and aloof -- and the character he's portraying, rendering static sequences where he chats with his devoted wife and gives a talk at an independent TED-like financier event. It doesn't help that Castor gets swept up in screenwriter Jack Paglen's hamstrung
plotting towards his digital transition, swapping out some of the nuance in the topic's ethics and feasibility with the time-sensitive desperation in getting the forward-thinker's mind in the digital sphere before he expires. His meek behavior becomes an ambiguous element of the story once his consciousness goes online, yet it leaves one wondering whether the film might actually be more intriguing and pertinent had Castor been a more discernible and engaged personality. What's frustrating about Transcendence is that the theories underneath Castor's transition are incredibly interesting on-paper, seen in motion once his presence crosses the digital threshold. Ideas are introduced about what'd happen if the upload of one's consciousness was in any way incomplete, whether their personality remains as a "ghost in the machine" after the transition, and how an unleashed, Internet-connected AI with specific personality and morality objectives would hand self-preservation ... and self-improvement. These aren't new concepts, of course, but they're becoming increasingly relevant with technology's advancement in the field, and they provide compelling science-fiction contemplations once the story gets beyond the tech used to make it possible. The combination of the script's cursory touches on that material and Pfister's protracted direction, however, delivers them in a dull and reflexive fashion, forcing the underlying gray-area themes -- both about the development of the Castor intelligence and the terrorist resistance to it -- to lose their assurance.
Transcendence's big disconnect lies in a void of emotional resonance from the perfunctory characters, where director Pfister relies too much on the concept to drive itself, closely mirroring -- and more accurately representing -- some of the criticisms lobbed at Christopher Nolan's films. With time, this electronic copy of Castor takes on a life of its own, exacting its own agenda that can be interpreted in a number of ways, both benevolent and malignant. A neutral adversary that's so clinical needs some kind of personal perspective
interacting with it to bolster the film's philosophical intentions, yet the bond between the intelligence and Evelyn hardly goes beyond her grim compliance and quietly emerging fear. Rebecca Hall musters an enigmatic and slightly empathetic presence as Castor's wife, whose despair over her husband's state understandably justifies her loyalty at the surface; however, the machinations of the eerily monotone proxy of Castor overbear the glimmers of intimacy between them, forcing the angle to be superficial storytelling instead of expressively dynamic. Everything else built around the situation is just as flaccidly one-note, from R.I.F.T.'s luddite agenda to the FBI investigation into their operations. Under better circumstances, perhaps the shallowness could be excused in support of Transcendence's focus on the complexity and threat of Castor's escalating abilities itself, as the script takes some fantastical licenses with leaps in science -- across a healthy jump in time -- that shape him into an almost God-like entity. What occurs in the second half while exploring this possibility, however, borders on abuse of Arthur C. Clarke's laws of science-fiction, where the application of things such as nanotechnology, organic tissue repair, even artificial weather modification become unjustly interchangeable with magic or with the miraculous touch of a deity, only in the not-distant-at-all future. The situation's common sense slips from Wally Pfister's grasp into a messy mixture of Orwellian dystopia and consequentialism, with only far-fetched contrivances befitting a mindless blockbuster as a means of overwrought escape. It's a shame to see the potential within Transcendence fizzle into the digital ether in such a haphazard fashion, losing track of its deeper ruminations along with its prudence.
The Blu-ray:
 |  |
Video and Audio:
Transcendence transmits onto Blu-ray in a 2.35:1-framed, 1080p AVC encode that, much like the film itself, fails to impress in areas where it really shouldn't. On the optimistic side, the palette mostly looks great, with engaging blasts of color -- the screen backdrop behind Castor and his partners, the green leaves and warm yellow of a sunflower, the orange flickers of fire, the redness of blood -- and warm, rich skin tones. A handful of fine details look strong, too, from the regenerative visual effects to the textures of clothing and digital infrastructures on display screens, while the response of light on skin surfaces and in Rebecca Hall's hair are moderately satisfying. Regrettably, the transfer also suffers from a handful of harsh, pronounced issues that overcome its positives: it has a moderately smooth digital appearance despite being shot on film, flattening nuanced details and washing away film grain; some instances of edge halos appear around details, noticeable in outdoor sequences; and, more significantly, the image's contrast frequently swallows up elements in its incredibly oppressive black levels. The result is certainly watchable and conveys the film's style well enough, but it's not as appealing as it likely should be.
Transcendence is essentially bookended with vigorous activity in its 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, with the broad middle section focused on the clarity of subtle sound effects and the resonance of vocal delivery. In the middle, the dialogue sustains a clear, cogent stream, with a booming presence in Digital Depp's vocal registry that capably mingles with Mychael Danna's moody pulse of a score. Sounds of robotic arms moving into place, of a plane landing, of sparks igniting and heavy beams being set in place during construction all assert capable, nuanced effects, with elegant separation at the front channels (especially during the hum of the outdoor panels). The rear channels see a pleasing amount of activity from the score and ambient sound effects, too, elevating the eerie mood. The disc truly flexes its muscle in the last thirty or so minutes, though, when aggressive explosions and artillery commingle with delicate flickers of Castor's techno-magic, though their aggressiveness comes across a little flatter than one might expect. Altogether, it's an engaging, clear sound design. English, French, and Spanish subs are available.
Special Features:
While the number of features available for Transcendence is numerous, the amount of content within each only amounts to less than twenty minutes of material, most of which are press-kit caliber bits that emphasize clips above actual insight and repeatedly -- and frustratingly -- retrace the same points. What is Transcendence? (5:20, 16x9 HD) features director Pfister, the actors, folks involved with the production and even scientific experts engaging in brief interviews that discuss the narrowing gap between biology and technology, piecing together into a collage of personal outlooks on the film's subject and plausibility of its first half. Wally Pfister: A Singular Vision (2:52, 16x9 HD) casually touches on the veteran filmmaker's transition into the director's chair for this specific story, Guarding the Threat (2:18, 16x9 HD) does the same thing with the ethical and emotional dangers of developing artificial intelligence, and The Promise of A.I. (2:34, 16x9 HD) emphasizes incredibly superficial comments from academic experts about the direction of the film's science. Three quick viral videos -- It's Me (1:02, 16x9 HD); Singularity (1:09, 16x9 HD); and R.I.F.T. (:58, 16x9 HD) -- have also been included, along with two Theatrical Trailers (2:34, 2:34; 16x9 HD) and an Ultraviolet Digital Download slip. A DVD Copy rounds out the package.
Final Thoughts:
I've been a big fan of Wally Pfister's visual work for quite some time, and the scientific and ethical musings within the duplication and preservation -- on might say recreation -- of one's consciousness are rather fascinating to me. Therefore, the concept-heavy Transcendence is the definition of something that's right up my alley ... and it's disappointing to see the potential realized in such a dull, frosty, and skeptical end result. Sound ideas can be spotted in the story, about the boundaries crossed in Will Castor's transference and the lack of control once those boundaries have been crossed, and the acting talent's there for something special. Despite their best efforts, however, including Rebecca Hall who's captivating regardless of her character's context, Transcendence can't shake off the drawn-out and implausible sensations accompanying its sketchy take on the concept and thematic crossed wires, woefully passing up an opportunity at something smarter for unreasonable pseudo-science thrills and hollow dramatics. Even though it's only worth a Rental, it doesn't deter one from greatly looking forward to Rebecca Hall's future performances and Wally Pfister's return behind the camera, and I sincerely hope this doesn't prevent Hollywood from attempting to tackle the subject again.
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