Transcendence generated a fair amount of interest a couple of years ago when it was unveiled as the upcoming directorial debut of Wally Pfister, the cinematographer best known for his collaborations with director Christopher Nolan. And as expected, Transcendence looks nice – but that’s about all you can say for it.

Johnny Depp plays Dr Will Caster, a world-renowned expert on artificial intelligence with dreams of creating a computer that transcends human technological capabilities.

When A.I. research labs are attacked across the country by technophobic terrorists and Dr. Caster is mortally wounded, his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) attempts to upload his consciousness onto a prototype AI, despite the misgivings of their friends Max (Paul Bettany) and Joseph (Morgan Freeman).

Although Will’s mind appears to survive the initial transfer, his need for electrical power and to ensure Evelyn’s safety causes them to take extreme measures to evade first the terrorists and then the government.

The concept of the computerised consciousness has been knocking around science fiction for over 60 years, which may go some way to explaining why this film feels so generic. The script alludes to ideas of self-awareness, transhumanism and the hidden price of modern technological advancements, but squanders these potentially interesting topics by failing to give them any dramatic heft.

Any pretence towards scientific realism is quickly buried under heaps of Hollywood silliness (mumble mumble nanites, quantum etc.) without the entertaining visual spectacle that typically accompanies such nonsense. Even Pfister’s reliable cinematography doesn’t show much panache, with the film confined to a series of dull and underwhelming action scenes.

The cast acquit themselves fairly well regardless – Hall does most of the emotional heavy lifting, with solid supporting work from Bettany, Freeman and Cillian Murphy.

The film would have benefitted from someone other than the terminally lethargic Johnny Depp as the male lead; his near-comatose acting style doesn’t help establish much threat from the supposedly ambiguous motives of his character.
All-in-all, the film is muddled and not particularly engaging. Here’s hoping that Wally finds more interesting scripts in future – for now, give Transcendence a miss.