Transcendance

On n'a pas eu ça depuis longtemps :-) Une seule chose aurait pu le sauver : si l'image devient en noir et blanc et que Depp apparaît devant Rebecca en chandail en angora à la finale. Après s'être baladées dans un ascenseur, trois petites filles d'environ huit ans étaient tellement ravies qu'elles ont écrit sur internet qu'elles étaient allées voir le nouveau film avec Johnny Depp et que c'était génial. Alors ne baissez pas les bras et allez au cinéma. Après tout, c'est produit exécutivement par Christopher Nolan ! (16/04/2014)

At its most basic, Transcendence is not as stupid as some people who in their joy at having discovered a couple of holes in the logic have claimed. At its core, it’s a pretty decent sci-fi premise that greatly suffers from the behaviour of the main characters, which at times feels really weird and stupid. The actors are good, the technical aspect is fine, too, but I have a problem with its hysterical technophobic tone. Yet, in spite of all the issues (mostly in the script) that Transcendence has, it is still a pretty watchable movie. But somewhere deep inside there is potential for a lot more, that much is clear. (02/07/2014)

Disclaimer: I will spoil a lot in this review. I went to see Transcendence in a cinema and had absolutely no idea what to expect. The critics were pretty rough about it. But when do I actually listen to the critics, right? Plus, it seems as if the journalists were conducting some kind of a witch-hunt for Johnny Depp. They say his movies are not so good anymore, they say his characters are not that interesting and that this movie is overcomplicated… I don’t know what they watched, but I think they left during the first ten minutes, because if they watched the whole movie, these alleged movie fans could never say such bullshit about Transcendence. True, the first half an hour was pretty demanding, I was almost thinking that I’ll take a nap in the cinema, but as soon as the first discussion about God began, the movie got quite interesting. Wally Pfister created perfect philosophical grounds for a nice thriller. What if somebody found God, what if that God materialized into a human shape and what if he tried to rule? Would he try to rule in a good way, or a bad way? Hard to say as people would still not understand it. And as the movie repeats several times, people fear what they cannot understand. And that’s what turns it into an absolutely amazing sci-fi in the second half, something the director immediately won me over with. The finale ended in the best way it could. It contemplated over feelings, good and evil and I really liked that. I especially liked the scene where Johnny is deciding whether to help his beloved or not. I will say nothing more on purpose. You simply have to watch it and either the finale will really please you…or not. And I think that causes the overall rating of the film as well. (07/05/2014)

In my opinion, this is a critical picture of the low social intelligence of scientists who, even if they receive unlimited resources to realize their visions, fail because of miserable PR. But maybe I misunderstood it. In any case, it has been a long time since I have had to work so hard to not fall asleep in the cinema. Wally, don't make idiots out of us. [40%] (17/04/2014)

Technology is a good servant, but a bad master that will steal your soul, ok? It gives the impression that Pfister is a senile old man (while he’s so young) who would "ban all those internets!". And he decided to share this attitude with the world through this would-be “techno"-thriller where the attitude to everyday technologies is like that your great-great grand-father would have if you went back in time and tried to explain to him what the Internet, cloud computing, uploading/downloading is. This is all very unintentionally funny, little seen method, but this is paradoxically the most minor problem that Transcendence suffers from. Much worse it that in the second half, Pfister gains a thirst for pontification and so he starts preaching about the state of society, the world, the contents of your fridge, the heavens... Simply anything that happened to occur to him or bug him during filming. The only thing is that he’s really dumb in what he says and how he says it. If onto this “quasi-Malick-like" concept, you graft scenes like IT guys cum FBI agents jumping out of a tunnel in the middle of the desert, armed to the teeth to do a bit of ratatatat in the direction of some nano-zombies while spouting wisdom such as “don’t go near them or they will infect you with a virus and upload your mind to their cloud" (meant of course absolutely seriously), then there remains nothing else to do but shake your head in disbelief or beat the table with it or else just make cruel fun out of the creators. And that is the only level where Pfister’s debut works outstandingly well. (28/08/2014)

I get the feeling that Wally Pfister bit off more than he could chew and couldn't transform his ambitions into a form that would allow us to speak about Transcendence as a powerful experience. The position of a director is simply more demanding than that of a cinematographer. Pfister evidently tried to shoot not only an entertaining genre film but above all a film with a deeper meaning. The result is a strange mishmash that neither entertains nor gives the impression of an artistic work. What good is it to engage a significant personality and acting chameleon Johnny Depp when the director tries to suppress him and he doesn't really fit into such a role typologically? He is simply wasted in it, and I can think of a dozen better candidates who would have been much more effective. The prevailing feeling in the end is disappointment and the impression that I have in front of me a grandiose but pathetic-looking B-movie. Overall impression: 40%. (17/03/2016)

At very least, a strange screenplay kills a promising idea about a human Skynet. Pfister gives us beautiful, polished images, but he should have paid more attention during Nolan’s directing lessons. The storyline doesn’t hold together as it should, too episodic and the characters’ behavior is pretty chaotic. For the first time in a long time, Depp acts quite pleasantly and the cool music raises the mood a little. (10/07/2014)

This is what a film would look like if Christopher Nolan got high, drunk, and filmed a philosophical sci-fi in a cheerful mood with a lot of unanswered questions about saving the world. It’s hard to understand how so many renowned names and relatively solid actors could agree to such a screenplay travesty, because I can't remember a worse job by a screenwriter in a blockbuster in recent memory. Nothing works, neither the emotions, nor the logic of the plot, nor the chemistry of the characters. Incredibly poorly directed flop. (17/04/2015)

A film with a great idea, simple but impressive. I'll bet you anything that if (producer) Christopher Nolan had shot it exactly the way (his cinematographer) Wally Pfister shot it, and if he had cast someone currently more popular than "that washed-up buffoon Depp" in the lead role, the ratings here would certainly look different. Redder. Too bad, but what can you do? I enjoyed Transcendence many times more than, say, Interstellar. Interesting plot from the beginning to the end, believable characters played by excellent actors, no complicated half-baked explanations... And that beautiful hesitation about who is good and who is bad (if anyone). In short, a spectacle to my taste, I round up four and a half stars to the 61 percent on purpose. (24/01/2015)

I will be nasty. If it weren't for a man as respected as Pfister behind the camera and a large cast of otherwise shining acting stars parading in front of it, perhaps I would have rated it better. However, when such an ambitious and grandiose story voluntarily and repeatedly mocks my limited intelligence while saying “You'll catch up anyway, I'm made in Hollywood”, I really have no problem stomping on it and flushing it down the drain. It's not so bad, of course, that I would walk away annoyed halfway through, and if you can get past some heavy story nonsense, the first two acts can be considered pretty decent conversational sci-fi with an uninspired plot. However, what happens at the end is an insult to everyone who’s not watching the film just because Johnny looks so dashing even in his 50s. And I’m really surprised that Depp went for it given his experience; he has never portrayed such a poor character, one who, despite being the most important and mysterious in the story, doesn't know what he wants to achieve. And so is the rest of the film, it doesn't look bad and it looks professional, but inside it's completely empty and severely uninteresting. Like a paradox, right Mr Nolan? 50% (09/07/2014)

This movie has flaws in its logic, it doesn't work perfectly, and the ending is not exactly one worth waiting for, but there is still an idea presented here that is worth it. It is true, although a bit worn out, at least in terms of "Terminator". Nevertheless, I think it is quite an interesting topic that was not processed so badly, just very Hollywood-like. It is a pity they didn't focus more on the psychological aspect and less on the action, which doesn't stand out much anyway, it would have been excellent. (11/05/2014)

We have a clear candidate for the worst blockbuster of this year. Transcendence is a movie which is very serious and acts even more serious, but its overall execution is rather pathetic. I don't want to discourage anyone from watching this movie but get ready to be utterly bored from the first to the last minute. The story is entirely predictable, as it makes it obvious from the outset who will survive and who won’t be so lucky. The script is completely lacking in logic, and even though the movie is desperate to look intriguing and original, the story ends up being perplexing, illogical, sketchy and eventually falls flat. Some characters are completely pointless (Mara), some do incomprehensible things (Murphy) and others don't seem to be even there (Freeman). To conclude, the idea was definitely interesting and with the right direction and a good script it could have been a hit. Unfortunately, Pfister probably didn't take notes when Nolan was directing Inception and the result is diametrically opposite. (05/08/2014)