Transcendence: Claim So But Far From It

Dr. Will Caster is a lot of things: husband, researcher, genius and, after a fatal attack, a supercomputer. Although the directorial debut from Christopher Nolan’s (The Dark Knight) go-to cinematographer has the right ingredients – interesting premise, solid casting choices and definitely excellent photography – Transcendence isn’t the high-flying sci-fi it so could’ve been.

Save for Rebecca Hall (The Prestige), looking elegant and displaying believable emotions throughout, no one else puts their best foot forward. Yes, Johnny Depp (The Lone Ranger) is on the list too, the result of being clearly in touch with his lifeless, stoic and disengaged performance back in The Tourist (doesn’t help either the fact that he’s disembodied). Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale), I swear, as JARVIS you exude more personality than being a human here. As the leader of the anti-technology group, Kate Mara (Netflix’s House Of Cards) remembers to turn up the ‘looking intense’ factor but not at all ‘screen presence’ or ‘being alive’. Even the always reliable Morgan Freeman (Now You See Me) and Cillian Murphy (Sunshine) fail here, their charisma and talents wasted for a script that doesn’t concentrate, and subsequently give them much screen-time, in the first place.

Perhaps the problem with our usually watchable actors stem from Jack Paglen’s unfocused, under-developed and unchallenging screenplay. Transcendence was on the 2012 The Black List of best unproduced screenplays, perhaps for its topical storyline, interesting proceedings, engrossing characters in both sides of the conflict and discussion-worthy issues like the existence of an emotional machine, what I discover in the final product are: certain roles are more like afterthoughts and if excised could’ve made the movie a more personal (and effective) affair, a character’s change of heart and belief is forced, the passage of years is far from convincing and arguments are presented in an exceedingly simple manner it’s rather confounding. I don’t know if something has happened during the film’s development, but right now Transcendence is akin to a well-dressed drunk – on the surface nice and sophisticated yet not so much in terms of executing thoughts.

Or now that we’re talking about execution, maybe we should look at Wally Pfister’s process of visualizing the script. First-time directors have possibly always been like Vegas (and even more so today) for you never know if we’ll have either an Eragon or District 9. Being the fine photographer that he is, Pfister knows how to set up a scene, which angles would work, what is and when to change into a suitable filming technique – the “shut it down” sequence being a personal highlight. That being said, evidence of Pfister still in his director of photography chair is apparent here: dazzling scenic shots that hurt the pace and too calculated or composed sequences of both drama and action that muddily reflect the story’s scale. I’m not saying the film has to be bombastic; there’s no better way than approaching Transcendence as a thinking-man thriller, but it has to be interesting and organic… and both are vaguely detected here.

At least the film gets a few things right. Cinematographer Jess Hall (Hot Fuzz) is clearly channeling Pfister here, lighting the shots in a way that allows the temperature – both inner and outer – to be very palpable or, in a couple of scenes, unlocking emotions with the shoulder cam’s gentle movements and close proximity. There’s nothing to write home about the action scenes because they are distant and rudimentarily choreographed, yet at least editor David Rosenbloom (Out of the Furnace) doesn’t fall for the choppiness that has unfortunately been the vogue of today’s action films. The same can be said for Mychael Danna (Life of Pi)’s music, subtle but visible and knows how to serve the images on-screen.

Transcendence is a case of “claim so but far from it”, a pity as it could’ve been a stylish and meaningful contribution to the whole man versus machine/brain or binary debate. While Dr. Will Caster is transcending, the audience’s interest begins its descending.