“Transcendence” definitely WANTS to be a heady science fiction movie that explores big ideas and makes a big impact, but instead it lands a little short, for some reason not really having the gravity or weight needed to establish that emotional connection between the characters and the plot, and in the end just being maybe a few steps above something like “The Lawnmower Man.”

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the world’s foremost mind when it comes to artificial intelligence and all that scientific mumbo jumbo, and he wants to use his knowledge and creations to learn more about the world and the people living in it, while his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) wants to use the same technology and knowledge to actively make the world a better, safer, cleaner, healthier place. And then there’s RIFT, an underground anti-technology terrorist group, led by a foxy little chick with smokey eyes (Kate Mara), and very early in the movie they make a coordinated attack on numerous computer labs, killing dozens of people and blowing up a bunch of machines, all in an effort to thwart the scientific community.

Dr. Caster becomes a casualty of this war, though his death is slower, allowing time for his brain waves and consciousness to be uploaded into an already functioning artificial intelligence machine.

Don’t focus on that little detail, that’s what “suspension of disbelief” is all about. The movie doesn’t really bother to focus on this little facet on which the entire plot hinges, and that’s fine, because that’s cinema.Continue Reading …