Transcendence

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Wally Pfister, Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany and Morgan Freeman

Wally Pfister, mostly known heretofore as a cinematographer, tackles a directorial role for Transcendence, a sci-fi tale about hubris, the ominous encroachment of artificial intelligence technology as well as the dominance of computers in our daily lives.

Johnny Depp plays Will Caster, a leader in artificial intelligence technology and researcher who has designed a computer that is highly intelligent and virtually self-aware. His colleague and life-partner, Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall), assists him in his research while colleagues Max Waters (Paul Bettany) and Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman), are part of a tech-movement that hope to create computers with superior artificial intelligence that overcome human limitations which Caster calls Transcendence.

Meanwhile, an anti-technology, terrorist organization known as R.I.F.T. isn't beyond employing violence to stop Caster and his colleagues from turning the world into a techno-cyber hell they believe will result from his work. One R.I.F.T. member (Lukas Haas) approaches Caster after a speech on artificial intelligence, levels a gun barrel at him and shoots, wounding him. The gunman takes his own life but the search for the members of the organization commences; led by an FBI Agent named Buchanan (Cillian Murphy).

Recovering from his wound, a doctor informs Caster the bullet that penetrated his abdomen was laced with Pollonium, a lethal radioactive substance whose effects on the human body are irreversible. Caster then becomes determined to spend quality time with his wife his last month alive. While Evelyn Caster and Max tend to Caster's physical decline, they hatch a plan to upload they dying man's neural activity into a computer, thus preserving his consciousness as Will had once achieved with a monkey.

Following Will's death, Max and Evelyn return to their hideout, away from R.I.F.T.'s prying eyes to test the efficacy of their work. At first the test yields nothing but as they prepare to wipe the files, they discover Will has made contact; his words "Anyone there?" appear brightly on the screen. Evelyn is ecstatic, feeling she has saved part of her husband though he resides in a cyber-limbo. It isn't long before Will informs Evelyn he needs more space with which to expand and transcend. Warned by Max that Will's demand to be connected to Wall Street smacks of an ominous power grab, Evelyn ignores his admonition and proceeds with Caster's demands. To facilitate Evelyn's tasks, he uses his reach of web resources to amass a sizeable bank account for her. He then selects an isolated, desert town to build an underground facility to house his prodigious, god-like "mind." Cyber-Caster begins to develop extraordinary abilities, such as healing wounds and regenerating damaged bodily tissues. This seems a benign and humanitarian gesture until Evelyn becomes privy to his plans to also control those in his care. His power reaches its apex when he begins to control the weather, causing micro-nano units to fall from the sky. Aware of what Caster has become, Max and Tagger join members of R.I.F.T. and the FBI to destroy him before he expands his control.

The allegory of technology developing beyond human control is nothing new though here it wears a different face, so to speak.

My problem with the movie isn't with the performances or the direction but with a conception of an artificial intelligence that falls short of being "supreme." Other than regenerating living matter, Cyber-Caster's agenda seems shockingly limited, given the power he has attained. You mean to tell me that a higher intelligence wouldn't seize control of the military's computerized launch codes or control the grid or manipulate financial data to control markets worldwide? What threat does he really pose other than enslaving town locals? Why doesn't he just seize control of Facebook and Twitter; social media that truly do enslave?

The movie is bookended with scenes of the aftermath of Caster's demise; a dead power grid and a nation reduced to a scavenging-gathering status, struggling to survive. It is all mildly entertaining but one might shrug one's shoulders afterward and say, "okay, whatever," and move on, as the movie is unable to resonate or offer intellectual sustenance. If Transcendence wants to inspire thought or serve as a cautionary tale, it does so weakly and unconvincingly. If it only were transcendent...