Surrogates
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: September 25, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
9
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Time OutKeith Uhlich
What follows is pulp made near-profound through director Jonathan Mostow’s sure-handed guidance. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's fun robot stuff, some good philosophical ideas, and a brief, nutty Willis-Ving Rhames reunion 15 years after "Pulp Fiction." Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Among cheesy sci-fi movies meant to make you think, I'll take Surrogates over "District 9." Both are highly derivative, but in the course of recombining the basic chromosomes of "Blade Runner," "The Matrix" and especially "I, Robot," Surrogates nudges the robo-thriller in an interesting direction. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This represesents the smartest high-budget, high-profile science fiction film to have come along in quite some time. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Mostow's smart speculative suspenser imagines a time when people can live through ideal versions of themselves while they sit wired up at home. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Surrogates stays afloat by not taking itself too seriously, but also by recognizing that a movie about robots shouldn't look as if it were made by one. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Surrogates is entertaining and ingenious, but it settles too soon for formula. Read full review
60
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Willis is fine, both as his blond action figure (Zack Morris hair) and actual self, in trusty bruised palooka mode. Mostow does good meat-and-potatoes genre work, coherent even when reckless. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The questions the movie raises have less to do with science than movie execution: Do the actors sound so robotic because they are playing robots well or humans badly? And did a machine write this dialogue? If so, could we please apply for an upgrade? Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Half a howler but not nearly funny enough. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A reasonably watchable sci-fi B movie, a case of a good director and some intriguing ideas struggling to overcome formula plotting, limp dialogue, and a serious case of the sillies. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Relentlessly plods from one dour moment to the next, coming to life only in a late-film car chase that takes the possibilities of a world filled with robots to an absurd extreme. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A mechanical sci-fi'er absent of logic or emotions. It functions as an expensive place-filler on the Disney release schedule and, as such, will be welcomed by only the least discriminating thriller fans. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
An interesting idea, but unfortunately, the film's narrative and emotional engine operate as mechanically as the titular, dead-eyed glamazoids. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
In this kind of industrial entertainment, particularly one that seems to be missing some connective narrative tissue, it’s hard to know if the writers or the director can be credited or blamed for what’s left on screen. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Corliss
An ambitious but sub-ordinary SF epic in which, as so often, Willis is better than his material. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
Surrogates, which borrows tone and content freely from "I, Robot," is all windup and no pitch. Read full review
30
Washington PostDan Kois
Surrogates takes an interesting idea -- the triumph of technological convenience over grimy, workaday life -- and buries it under clumsy exposition, unconvincing action sequences and a by-the-numbers conspiracy plot. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The premise for this sci-fi actioner makes sense for about four seconds, after which you begin to wonder why everyone on the planet would willingly become a shut-in. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The filmmakers were too busy throwing together potential blockbuster material to notice all the loose ends and gaping holes in logic. Which may, ultimately, explain why Willis looks so confused throughout. Maybe he, too, is straining to locate some intelligence amid all the machinery. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Surrogates' morality is less Asimov than asinine, although it's bizarrely reassuring, in a nihilistic sort of way, to believe that in the future, when the world is ready to play The Sims for real (so to speak), our avatars are all going to look like generic porn stars with shitty airbrush jobs. Read full review
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