Transcendence

A scientist who is fascinated by the universe and artificial intelligence is working on a grand project to combine nature and technology closer towards each other, creating a sentient computer, until after an anti-technology movement takes out his laboratory and himself.

His wife and close friend reluctantly agree to try to upload his consciousness inside the quantum computer, and eventually, the scientist, played by Johnny Depp, is successfully transcended beyond the physical reality.

As his wife is relieved and fascinated by her husband's state of being, it becomes apparent that the motivation of the scientist is growing more dangerous, radical and revolutionary. Transcendence is a movie not primarily about emotions, but more about ideals where nanotechnology, society and the singularity can bring us to potential futures.

As such, it is an ambitious movie directed by Wally Pfister who was responsible for the cinematography towards Christopher Nolan's movies. Yet, it also continues to show us the developing relationship of the wife and the scientist post-transcendence, which is intriguing, and rather different from a movie such as Her(2013).

Many actors in here are world famous including Morgan Freeman, Johnny Depp and Cillian Murphy, but Rebecca Hall is the main protagonist, struggling with the rise of her husband. Despite growing an impressive technological utopia called Brightwood using his newfound knowledge and resources by the use of the internet and his new will, once Evelyn the wife witnesses Will the scientist's power to remote control people's minds using nanotechnology, things get more scarier.

It all sounds exciting on paper, but the execution pales in comparison, despite strong actors being there. Yet, Transcendence is better than I expected after hearing mixed responses. It's worth giving it a try for those looking for their possible foreseeable science fiction fix.

Rating: 7.0