Transcendence ** (2014, Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Morgan Freeman, Clifton Collins Jr) – Movie Review

Johnny Depp stars as Berkeley genius scientist Dr Will Caster who is on the verge of creating an omniscient, sentient A.I. machine. But a rogue anti-technology terrorist group fights to stop him and they put him out of action by radioactive poisoning.

As his body slowly deteriorates, his researcher wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and his brilliant partner and best friend Max (Paul Bettany) work frantically to upload his mind to a computer to allow him to continue his research. Morgan Freeman plays a government-supported scientist and Cillian Murphy is FBI Agent Buchanan on the case.

Slack pacing, unexciting camerawork, dull locations, moderate visual effects and the uncertain screen-writing in first-time-writer Jack Paglen’s screenplay are the main problems in this ambitious and intriguing debut as director by Wally Pfister, the gifted cameraman of Christopher Nolan’s movies. It has a low-budget look about it, so it’s a shock to discover it cost $100million.

It’s also a problem that Depp’s performance is restricted to TV screens after he’s reborn and his brain gets wired to the web. This more or less terminates Depp’s effective role in the movie and leaves the capable Rebecca Hall with the film’s main part. Though she is good and likeable, giving a brisk and effective performance, she isn’t quite the attraction Depp would be. Bettany gamely fills in some blank spaces, though Freeman and especially Murphy are wasted, with too little to do.

It is a disappointment as a piece of sci-fi story-telling, but it’s easy to go with the flow and accept it for what it is rather than what it could have been. It does keeps you watching and involved, trying to follow its themes and ideas, and it is decent, thought-provoking, serious-minded entertainment. The hatchets are out for Depp, but that’s not fair at all. He’s done all that was asked of him.

Nolan served as executive producer on the project. Paglan’s screenplay was part of what is known as The Black List, a set of popular but unproduced Hollywood screenplays.

It was critically bashed and a box office flop: on an estimated cost of $100million, it took only $23million at the US box office, eventually earning earned $103million worldwide, barely covering its production costs. Depp was named Hollywood’s most overpaid actor in 2015, returning only $1.20 for every $1 he was paid on Mortdecai and Transcendence.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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