Transcendence Reviews

This movie in some way remind me of the bad movie Lucy (2015) with a very incredible screenplay and a horrible "Come On" stupid ending and even if the first hour is a bit boring the story is interesting, the visual effects are well done and Rebecca Hall is great in the role of Evelyn but for the rest the acting is not great and the ending is extremely unreal and incredible.
My Rating : 5.0 for Average
My Pleasure Meter : 2.5/5.0 Stars

From all the recent flops starring Johnny Depp, this was the one which definitely had the most potential. Indeed, before it was released, there was some pretty good buzz about it but it was eventually poorly received and it didn’t become a box-office hit at all. Well, it was definitely disappointing, that's for sure. I mean, since Wally Pfister was making his directing debut, the whole thing looked really good, no doubt about that but, unfortunately, the story didn’t really work. I'm not sure what bothered me the most, the fact it was filled with some really obvious plot-holes or the fact that half of it didn't make much sense. Eventually, what bothered me the most was how incapable they were to properly handle this superior form of intelligence. With this in mind, it actually reminded me of 'The Matrix'. Indeed, in both movies, you are introduced to a different level of consciousness, which is really fascinating, but instead of exploring all the artistical and phylosophical possibilities of such concepts, we get stuck with some underwhelming evil being with some shaddy agenda. Basically, the human beings have to remain on top of things somehow and such superior being can apparently be handled only as a threat which is terribly disappointing. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, the end-result was eventually terribly half-baked and I don't it is actually really worth a look.

I remember watching the trailer and being intrigued with the cast and the plot as well. So it kind of feels like a modern 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Terminator. The concept was interesting, but the execution lacked something. Kate Mara as a "villain" was kind of silly. I just couldn't take her seriously to be honest. There are at least 3 of the actors in this that were also in The Dark Knight Rises even though this was only produced by Christopher Nolan. I find it interesting that one of the lines in the movie is "People fear what they don't understand." It seems to be the case with this film. It may have tried to hard to be an intelligent film, but the way it was executed might have been a little all over the place. I thought the ending was pretty beautiful visually and emotionally. Personally I found it to be a good watch.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Dr Will Caster's wife Evelyn transfers his mind to a supercomputer in order to save his life, creating a sentient, omnipresent machine. But as the AI's thirst for knowledge grows, it becomes increasingly clear that it can't be stopped.
I was really looking forward to this one, because it's the directorial debut of cinematographer Wally Pfister, who constantly works with Christopher Nolan. And… I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but Transcendence is a disappointment.
A lot of my initial complaints are actually negated in hindsight, but some character actions still come across as just plain idiotic. For example, the construction of Will's facility is hardly inconspicuous.
But my main issue with the movie is that the neo-Luddites are portrayed as the villains at first, but then readily unite with our heroes with no tension whatsoever. I know they're uniting against a common enemy, but it just seemed to me that something was missing. Speaking of which, I never in a million years thought I'd agree with Luddites, but they were absolutely right: it was plainly obvious that this AI had to be stopped! The moment where he basically possesses someone who's connected to him is frankly horrifying!
Also, what the hell are those particles that float up from the ground? It begs an explanation!
Overall, this is a movie that had great potential to be a smart, compelling sci-fi thriller, but suffers from pretentious philosophy and incomplete ideas.

My rating: 50%