Surrogates (**1/2)

Surrogates. 89 mins. PG-13. Directed by Jonathan Mostow. Written by Michael Ferris & John Brancato. Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell, and Ving Rhames.

Surrogates is a competent but lazy retread of many movies of its ilk that have come before (I, Robot, District 9, The Island, etc.). Clocking in at under 90 minutes, the movie is easily watchable and though director Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown, Terminator 3) manages to stage one or two exciting action sequences, the story is so been there-done that, and Bruce Willis so clearly phones it in, that Surrogates can't ever rise above mediocre. Willis plays a cop in the near future, where everyone lives vicariously through robot, look-alike surrogates. As a result, crime is down and cities are safe and clean, but sterile, and nobody really lives life anymore. This point is hammered home repeatedly throughout as we see the real human characters in horrible condition - as if they haven't taken a shower in over a month. When two people are murdered, Willis' cop character frees himself from his surrogate and tries to solve the murder himself, uncovering far-reaching conspiracies and taking down the whole surrogate system in the process. Surrogates is instantly forgettable and the very definition of disposable entertainment - it's the kind of movie you'd find being broadcast on TBS on a Saturday night. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not all that good either.

- John