Where do I begin?
I can't decide if I liked Transcendence or not.
The movie, in and of itself, is gorgeous. Every single shot is framed beautifully. There is no doubt on my mind that director Wally Pfister gives a lot of attention to the visual aspects of his movies.
That being said, Transcendence was terrifying.
Most of us have probably heard theories about the demise of the technical age. People have been planning for this for years, the most recent example that I can think of being Y2K.
Some say a solar flare will knock out the grid. Some say one of our enemies will pull the plug on us and leave us in darkness. Some say it will be a conspiracy spearheaded by an overly controlling government that will cut off our power. Transcendence says that we'll bring it on ourselves. That in our efforts to enhance ourselves through technology, we will destroy it.
Early on, we meet Will Caster and his wife Evelyn (played by Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall respectively), who have devoted themselves to creating a sentient computer, one that can function like a human and think for itself. So far, they have been successful in the form of PINN, Physically Independent Neural Network. However, research continues at various science labs across the country to perfect the program.
Tragedy strikes when Will's affiliate labs are attacked, and he himself is shot at a convention. Matters are further complicated when it is discovered that the bullet that shot Will was laced with Polonium, and Will only has a month to live.
Will decides to spend the last few weeks of his life home with Evelyn. Evelyn, however, isn't ready to accept Willis death so easily. After finding out that one of their fellow scientists had successfully uploaded a monkey's consciousness to a computer, she tries to convince Will and their friend Max (Paul Bettany) to attempt to do the same with Will's mind. Max doesn't like the idea, but Will decides it's worth a try (more for Evelyn ' s sake than his desire for the technology to work).
After Will dies in his sleep, it appears that the process wasn't successful. But as Evelyn and Max prepare to shut down the program, they are surprised when a message appears on the screen: Is anyone there?
Evelyn is convinced that it's Will, but Max has his doubts and insists they shut down the program anyway. Furious, Evelyn tells him to leave. She uploads Will to the Internet, and he leads her to a remote town in New Mexico where he instructs her to build a gigantic laboratory with the world's biggest array of satellite panels from which he can draw power.
Meanwhile, Max is abducted by a group of anti-technology people called RIFT, Revolutionary Independence from Technology. These are the guys behind the attacks on the science labs and for poisoning Will. Their leader, Bree (Kate Mara), tells him they agree with his misgivings about uploading humanity to computers, except they're taking it a step further by trying to end human dependence on technology altogether. Max resists at first, but later joins them.
Man vs. Computer
What's interesting up to this point is the difference between the human-Will and the computerized-Will.
Human-Will appears selfless, and his only purpose is to aid humanity through his research and technical advancements. When it comes down to a decision between spending the remainder of his life at work or with Evelyn, he chooses Evelyn without question.
Computerized-Will, on the other hand, seems intent on conquest from the get-go. He heals people with his advanced technology, but in doing so he implants a bit of himself into them. This way, he builds himself a pseudo-zombified army with superhuman strength and the ability to heal, all controlled by his main computer systems.
Despite her love for Will, Evelyn is appalled by this. She tolerates it for a while, but after Will reanimates his army after they are killed by RIFT guys, she decides enough is enough.
At RIFT headquarters, Max explains that he never believed it was possible to upload Will, himself, to a computer. He points out how the computerized-Will seems self-serving and controlling, unlike the human-Will. He convinces her that it's never really been Will in the computer.
She agrees to help them shut him/it down.
The End...?
This is where things started getting really confusing for me.
Evelyn injects herself with a computer virus that will shut down the computerized-Will and every network he's touched...which is everything. Then she goes back to Will and asks him to upload her into his system. During the ensuing battle between RIFT and Will's techno-zombified army, Evelyn is wounded. At first it doesn't seem like the computerized-Will cares, but later he tries to heal her (thus infecting him with the virus). At the same time, Evelyn says that she can "see" now. Everything Will has done has, apparently, been for good, to bring peace on Earth and save the planet. Evelyn says she's sorry she didn't believe it was really Will, and they are later found dead in each others arms.
My thing is, I'm still not really convinced it was really him.
As mentioned earlier, the change in Will's human personality to his computerized personality is noticeable. Human-Will puts Evelyn and her needs before his own. Computerized-Will, although he means well, is only concerned about accomplishing his goals.
Human-Will, when given the choice between spending his last month at work in the lab or with Evelyn, chooses to be with Evelyn. There's a beautiful scene near the beginning where she's asleep in a lawn chair in their garden after working outside all day, and Will comes up to her and carefully drapes a blanket over her. Despite the fact that he's the one who's dying, I think he is sad for her, that she will have to watch his decline and live on without him.
Computerized-Will is all about himself from the get-go. "I need more power" he says almost right off the bat. At first their lab in New Mexico is just big, but as the film progresses it steadily gets bigger and bigger until it's insanely huge, even for a movie. To top everything off, he doesn't understand why Evelyn isn't as excited about all of his advancements as he is.
"I don't understand," Will says. "This is the future. "
"This is not our future, " Evelyn replies. "You're not here with me."
"You've changed. Have you fallen out of love with me?" he asks.
"No," she says.
The differences in Will's human and computerized personalities are so different from each other that I found it really hard to believe the computerized-Will was really Will to begin with.
Computers can't feel emotions. They can only accomplish the tasks they are given. And that is exactly what computerized-Will does.
However, some would argue that Will really is himself because he really loves Evelyn. But here's my argument against that: In the 8th (and most disturbing) season of Doctor Who, the Doctor states that true love isn't an emotion, it's a promise. It makes sense, doesn't it? Most wedding vows says, " I take you to be my spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward, in good times and bad, rich or poor, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." Although love is important to the equation, we aren't promising to have mushy feelings for each other all the time. We're simply promise to stick together through everything.
A computer can keep a promise, but it cannot feel love even if it wanted to.
And, to top off my argument, one of the first things Will says when they upload him to the computer is, "I can't feel anything."
