Al's Omniflick: Transcendence

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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...

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On DVD

Fury (1936)

Director: Fritz Lang

Though we might normally think of the films M and Metropolis when director Fritz Lang becomes the topic of conversation, less known is the legendary director's work in Hollywood. Having fled the ever-growing menace of Nazi Germany for America in the early 1930s', Lang eventually found himself under contract for MGM.

Though his work in Hollywood is very uneven, one standout is Fury, from 1936. Starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney, the film's condemnation of mob justice seems spectacularly daring now, considering lynching was still a reality in Depression-era America. We don't see one black person in the film entire but we know precisely for whom Lang film is sympathetic.

Spencer Tracy plays Joe Wilson, who is arrested in a small town while en route to meet his fiance, Katherine (Sylvia Sydney). Suspected of being part of a kidnapping of a little girl, Wilson is arrested on the flimsiest evidence. While he sits in cell; angry and indignant, Katherine is puzzled as to why her fiance hasn't arrived at their prearranged meeting place.

But Wilson's fortunes take a darker and more dangerous turn when a mob--already on edge--is roused to anger. Egging one another on, the mob moves on the jailhouse where Wilson is being held. As the angry gathering becomes a mass, drawing citizens of the town into their swelling numbers, a lynch-mob begins to form. The sheriff, determined to see due process take its course, refuses their forceful demands. Becoming angrier and angrier and bolder and bolder, the crowd storms the jail, overwhelming the sheriff and his deputies. Unable to unlock the cell doors to reach Wilson, the mob sets the jailhouse ablaze as an alternate method of lynching.

Katherine, having arrived on the scene, faints when she sees flames engulf the cell where her fiance is held.

In spite of the mob acting as a faceless entity, its principle members are brought to trial though the town and the defendants maintain a conspiracy of silence, hoping to escape convictions and censure.

A sure acquittal seems imminent until damning evidence assures their guilt. When the majority of the members receive death sentences, Wilson turns up at his brothers, having survived the fire. Knowing the public is unaware of his survival, he vows to stay in hiding to ensure the mob conspirators are executed.

The scene where Katherine, nearly insane from grief, comes face to face with Joe is a powerful moment in the film. As she slowly recovers from her state, she realizes Joe's vindictive determination to see the mob hang is in itself a great injustice.

The story climaxes during a stirring courtroom scene that brings the fascinating story to a close.

I would have never expected Hollywood to make a statement as powerful as Fury made in 1936. Given the fact that lynchings in America at the time went unpunished, the movie railed bravely, in spite of the main character being white rather than black, against what was then the status quo. The Oxbow Incident would make a similar and commensurately powerful statement seven years later.

The film's willingness to peer into the darker side of American life could be partly attributed to Lang, who co-wrote the story and who was no stranger to exploring the darker side of humanity. Having seen evil flower in his home country, it makes sense Lang would choose to tell this story.

Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney give wonderful, emotionally layered performances. Katherine's near descent into madness is depicted touchingly by Sydney. To see Tracy's mild-mannered Wilson become angry and vengeful is heartbreaking.

Even watching Lang's film on a small screen does little to diminish its power. Weeks after the viewing, I still can't shake its indelible images or its angry indictment of one of America's great crimes. One couldn't devise a better title than one it was given eighty years ago. Fury indeed.