Kevin's Watch

Went to see this last night and overall I enjoyed it. Of course I tend to like most things with Bruce Willis in them, but this was a pretty simple plot done well and unfolded neatly so that the audience could get to grips with the (then) here and now.

Its a pre-apocolyptic type movie, that is also at the same time in an undercurrent state of post apocalypse and this is what I found interesting. The movie is about real life, full size walking talking dolls controlled remotely, called Surrogates. You buy these and they replace you in the real world whilst you lie on a hooked up sensor bed living life through their senses. What interested me is that in a real sense we do this in our own cyber world and that taken to this extreme as in this movie, causes people to lose the freedom initially gained. It also deals with the "persona" as opposed to the real person behind the mask again something that is very real today, but shown almost in charicature

I thought tho' that it was a bit 'pat' in places and a few editing cuts seemed to have also short-cut parts of the plot which if they'd explored a bit further would have added a bit of depth to the movie. There was not a time problem at an hour and a half film length and the "human" concepts the film championed would have been more real had they been developed further. Instead it was a glossed over a bit in favour of keeping the plot moving at a pre-set pace.

Thus the relationships between Willis and his partner and Willis and his wife were mere veneers and the opportunity was missed to get into not just the relationship between the people and the relationship between the surrogates but also the people/surrogate relationships...in effect two people could have up to four seperate relationships with each other.

Still overall not bad, think I Robot/I am Legend type of sub genre. My biggest criticism is that it did not exploit the scope that it created.

saw the trailer (when jenn and i went to see district 9) and thought of Stepford Wives. can't decide if i want to go see it or not.

Looks good. I'll rent it.

I thought it looked like a mess from the trailer...seems they trimmed it down to it's skeleton to make it viable.

Yeah Jacob Raver, another 20-25 minutes could have made a real difference between a ripping yarn and a good psychological thriller.

Having said that its worth a look. I categorise movies as below par, which means I have wasted time and money, par which means I have got what I paid for and no complaints as to value in time and money and above par which means I'd have paid three times what I did and still thought it a good deal. This is very much a "par" movie, in that it was enjoyable but had the potential for so much more.

Sadly I think that a lot of movies with names like Willis in them, set their sights on "blockbuster" and as such aim for the lowest common denominator so no-one is excluded however dim. But the story and the setting will not appeal to some (non sci-fi people) and the fact that aspects of the movie were dumbed down for them will be lost regardless. But the fact that the movie did not lift itself for those who would appreciate it, does not mean its a bad film.

lucimay wrote:saw the trailer (when jenn and i went to see district 9) and thought of Stepford Wives. can't decide if i want to go see it or not.

I thought the same thing. Although I saw the trailer on TV.

Saw this one yesterday. I think all of Finn's comments were spot on. Another 30+ minutes would have been well worth it. But I guess then you couldn't get as many Bruce Willis fans through the gates in a day.

Despite very interesting ideas and opportunities for ideas I didn't think it moved along very well. It aimed at ideas, action, plot and character relationships/development and really didn't truly hit any of them IMHO. I am neither a movie expert or snob but I just think it could have been better. I also was more than willing to overlook what I took to be some real stretches in believability. Unless like me you were enjoying a theater movie night out with family member(s) I would relegate this one to rental status.

The trailer seemed to tell the entire plotline. Whether it does or not, I don't think I'm slightly interested.

A friend of mine saw it with his girlfriend and both of them said the best the film could have been with a few changes was decent. They hated it. Doesn't bode well, I think. Granted, he doesn't usually like that kind of film.