Transcendence

A film with a great idea, simple but impressive. I'll bet you anything that if (producer) Christopher Nolan had shot it exactly the way (his cinematographer) Wally Pfister shot it, and if he had cast someone currently more popular than "that washed-up buffoon Depp" in the lead role, the ratings here would certainly look different. Redder. Too bad, but what can you do? I enjoyed Transcendence many times more than, say, Interstellar. Interesting plot from the beginning to the end, believable characters played by excellent actors, no complicated half-baked explanations... And that beautiful hesitation about who is good and who is bad (if anyone). In short, a spectacle to my taste, I round up four and a half stars to the 61 percent on purpose. (01/24/2015)

This is what a film would look like if Christopher Nolan got high, drunk, and filmed a philosophical sci-fi in a cheerful mood with a lot of unanswered questions about saving the world. It’s hard to understand how so many renowned names and relatively solid actors could agree to such a screenplay travesty, because I can't remember a worse job by a screenwriter in a blockbuster in recent memory. Nothing works, neither the emotions, nor the logic of the plot, nor the chemistry of the characters. Incredibly poorly directed flop. (04/16/2015)

Disclaimer: I will spoil a lot in this review. I went to see Transcendence in a cinema and had absolutely no idea what to expect. The critics were pretty rough about it. But when do I actually listen to the critics, right? Plus, it seems as if the journalists were conducting some kind of a witch-hunt for Johnny Depp. They say his movies are not so good anymore, they say his characters are not that interesting and that this movie is overcomplicated… I don’t know what they watched, but I think they left during the first ten minutes, because if they watched the whole movie, these alleged movie fans could never say such bullshit about Transcendence. True, the first half an hour was pretty demanding, I was almost thinking that I’ll take a nap in the cinema, but as soon as the first discussion about God began, the movie got quite interesting. Wally Pfister created perfect philosophical grounds for a nice thriller. What if somebody found God, what if that God materialized into a human shape and what if he tried to rule? Would he try to rule in a good way, or a bad way? Hard to say as people would still not understand it. And as the movie repeats several times, people fear what they cannot understand. And that’s what turns it into an absolutely amazing sci-fi in the second half, something the director immediately won me over with. The finale ended in the best way it could. It contemplated over feelings, good and evil and I really liked that. I especially liked the scene where Johnny is deciding whether to help his beloved or not. I will say nothing more on purpose. You simply have to watch it and either the finale will really please you…or not. And I think that causes the overall rating of the film as well. (05/07/2014)

At its most basic, Transcendence is not as stupid as some people who in their joy at having discovered a couple of holes in the logic have claimed. At its core, it’s a pretty decent sci-fi premise that greatly suffers from the behaviour of the main characters, which at times feels really weird and stupid. The actors are good, the technical aspect is fine, too, but I have a problem with its hysterical technophobic tone. Yet, in spite of all the issues (mostly in the script) that Transcendence has, it is still a pretty watchable movie. But somewhere deep inside there is potential for a lot more, that much is clear. (07/02/2014)

I get the feeling that Wally Pfister bit off more than he could chew and couldn't transform his ambitions into a form that would allow us to speak about Transcendence as a powerful experience. The position of a director is simply more demanding than that of a cinematographer. Pfister evidently tried to shoot not only an entertaining genre film but above all a film with a deeper meaning. The result is a strange mishmash that neither entertains nor gives the impression of an artistic work. What good is it to engage a significant personality and acting chameleon Johnny Depp when the director tries to suppress him and he doesn't really fit into such a role typologically? He is simply wasted in it, and I can think of a dozen better candidates who would have been much more effective. The prevailing feeling in the end is disappointment and the impression that I have in front of me a grandiose but pathetic-looking B-movie. Overall impression: 40%. (03/17/2016)