Action thriller is future imperfect (From Halesowen News)

Action thriller is future imperfect

6:50am Saturday 6th February 2010

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SURROGATES (Cert 12, 85 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Sci-Fi Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £23.99) Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames, Jack Noseworthy.

Reclusive genius Dr Lionel Carter (Cromwell) oversees a future in which humans slip on virtual-reality goggles and take control of robotic doppelgangers to carry out day-to-day tasks.

When Dr Carter's son is murdered, seemingly while connected to a surrogate, the scientist entreats FBI Agent Greer (Willis) and his partner Jennifer Peters (Mitchell) to apprehend the man responsible, Miles Strickland (Noseworthy), who is in possession of an 'overload device', which literally fries the brain of the surrogate and its user.

Miles is hiding in the Dread Zone, an area of the city ruled by The Prophet (Rhames) and his followers, who vehemently reject surrogates. In his pursuit of justice, Greer's robotic helper is damaged and the cop is forced to re-enter the real world and contend with his estrangement from his wife Maggie (Pike).

Surrogates is a futuristic action thriller with an intriguing premise, which is clumsily executed by director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines). Screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris barely touch upon the moral implications of a mechanised society, failing to capture the complexities of Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's celebrated graphic novels.

Real Bruce and fake Bruce, the latter sporting flawless skin and a full crop of hair, are equally inexpressive, while Mitchell and Pike appear almost entirely as their robotic alter-egos.

The 'surprising' revelations of the final chapter are glaringly obvious and poke large holes in the film's logic. Action sequences are well-orchestrated if short on thrills, including an hilarious car chase. Mostow's film is future imperfect.

DVD Extras: Director commentary, Breaking Benjamin "I Will Not Bow" music video; Blu-ray: Director commentary, "A More Perfect You: The Science Of Surrogates" featurette, "Breaking The Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes To Life" featurette, deleted scenes, Breaking Benjamin "I Will Not Bow" music video.

Rating: Three out of five.

Aliens In The Attic (Cert PG, 82 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray & DVD Combi-pack £28.99) Starring: Carter Jenkins, Kevin Nealon, Gillian Vigman, Ashley Tisdale, Ashley Boettcher, Doris Roberts, Robert Hoffman, Andy Richter, Austin Butler, Henry Young, Regan Young, and the voices of JK Simmons, Thomas Haden Church, Kari Wahlgren, Josh Peck.

Teenage swot Tom Pearson (Jenkins) heads to a lakeside retreat with his father Stuart (Nealon), mother Nina (Vigman) and sisters Bethany (Tisdale) and Hannah (Boettcher), having just intentionally failed his classes so he can get the school bullies off his back.

Uncle Nate (Richter) and his boys Jake (Butler) and the twins Art (Henry Young) and Lee (Regan Young) arrive soon after, accompanied by Nana Rose (Roberts) and her steady supply of peppermints.

In the calm before a meteor shower, four aliens land on Earth, intent on recovering a device from the basement of the Pearsons' holiday home. An extra-terrestrial called Skip (voiced by Simmons) spearheads this scouting party, aided by Tazer (Church), Razor (Wahlgren) and Sparks (Peck).

They masterfully take remote control of any pesky adults using electrical darts shot into the necks of the victims. Thankfully, these devices have no effect on children and the resourceful youngsters realise they are all that stands in the way of mankind's destruction.

Aliens In The Attic is undemanding, PG-friendly fun, quickly establishing Jenkins' outcast as the hero who must go from beleaguered underdog to saviour of the universe in the space of 82 jaunty minutes.

Director John Schultz borrows shamelessly from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial to forge a bond between the youngest child and the one alien who doesn't think "human beings are vicious," teeing up a predictably teary farewell.

He also orchestrates some surprisingly polished action sequences including one eye-catching sequence when the aliens tamper with gravity. Visual effects are polished and should hold the attention of younger viewers.

DVD Extras: None stated.

Rating: Three out of five.

The Invention Of Lying (Cert 12, 96 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99) Starring: Ricky Gervais, Louis C.K., Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey Tambor.

Lowly screenwriter Mark Bellison (Gervais) lives in an alternate reality in which everyone instinctively tells the truth and the concept of a fib doesn't yet exist. He is about to be fired by his boss Anthony (Tambor) and his landlord is demanding rent money he doesn't have.

So he heads to his bank to close the account. Asked by the teller how much he wants to withdraw, Mark nervously tells a porky, asking for $800 rather than the $300 he actually has to his name.

Having stumbled upon the art of lying, he begins to exploit deceit for personal gain with best friend Greg (Louis C.K.). Mark also wins the affections of the lovely Anna McDoogles (Garner) and impresses Anthony with a wacky screenplay about a spaceship during the time of Black Plague.

As Mark grows increasingly comfortable with lying, he realises there are grave consequences for leading people astray.

The Invention Of Lying is mean-spirited, misconceived and starved of big laughs. Co-written and co-directed by Matthew Robinson, Gervais' new comedy is an unnecessarily crude subversion of polite social mores, littered with cameos from the likes of Stephen Merchant, Christopher Guest and Edward Norton.

The leading man's trademark bluster grates and we lose patience completely when he stands before the world to deliver a 21st Century Ten Commandments, sellotaped to the back of pizza delivery boxes in place of stone tablets.

Gervais is an unsympathetic and unconvincing romantic lead. The notion that Garner's acid-tongued beauty might succumb to his so-called charms is more laughable than anything in the script.

DVD Extras: "Prequel: The Dawn Of Lying" featurette, "Meet Karl Pilkington" featurette, additional scenes, "A Truly 'Honest' Making Of Featurette With Ricky Gervais", video podcast starring Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, "More Laughter: Corpsing And Outtakes".

Rating: Two out of five.

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