TRANSCENDENCE
Director Wally Pfister
Cert. 12A 119 mins
When the brilliant scientist Dr Will Caster (Johnny Depp) finds out he’s dying, he, along with his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and their mutual friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), attempt to upload his brain to a computer, thereby beating death.
They’re opposed by a group called Unplug (Kate Mara and others), who think that such technology poses a danger to humanity and are prepared to kill to stop it.
Transcendence marks the directorial debut of Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer Wally Pfister (Inception, The Prestige, the Dark Knight trilogy), who shares Nolan’s ability to make one both think and feel.
It's a small to medium sized sci-fi thriller, a human tale that explores themes such as artificial intelligence, humanity, life, death, and love. And, of course, whether we can transcend those things.
Curious ending
While most of the film seems like an example of the dystopian artificial intelligence sub-genre, the ending curiously subverts and attempts to transcend this.
So, while it seems like the film purports to be a deconstruction of idolatry along the lines of Limitless or Iron Man 3, it arguably does the converse, showing how humanity can reflect the image of God, displaying attributes like creativity, work, healing, sacrifice, and love. It’s arguably a subtle yet positive Christian allegory.
There are several scenes of injury and operations, which may be off-putting for some viewers.
