Transcendence is a 2014 science fiction film directed by cinematographer Wally Pfister in his directorial debut, and written by Jack Paglen. The English-language co-production stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, and Morgan Freeman. Pfister's usual collaborator, Christopher Nolan, served as executive producer on the project. At one time, Paglen's screenplay was part of what is known as the Black List, a list of popular but unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. Transcendence was a disappointment at the box office, barely recovering its $100 million budget. The film received mainly negative reviews; it was criticized for its plot structure, characters and dialogue.
Movie Details:
Directed by: Wally Pfister
Produced by: Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosorve, Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino, Annie Marter, David Valdes, Aaron Ryder
Written by: Jack Paglen
Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman
Music by: Mychael Danna
Cinematography: Jess Hall
Edited by: David Rosenbloom
Production company: Alcon Entertainment, DMG Entertainment, Straight Up Films
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures (United States & Canada), Summit Entertainment (International)
Release date(s): April 10, 2014 (New York City), April 18, 2014 (United States and China)
Running time: 119 minutes
Country: United States, China
Language: English
Budget: $100 million
Box office: $103,039,258
Plot:
Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is a scientist motivated by curiosity about the nature of the universe. Being part of a team working to create a sentient computer, he predicts that such a computer will create a technological singularity, or in his words "Transcendence". His wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), whom he loves deeply, supports his efforts and joins him in their garden around which he has erected copper mesh (effectively creating a Faraday cage) to block electromagnetic radiation. However, the extremist group "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" (R.I.F.T.) has one of their members shoot Will with an irradiated bullet and carry out a series of synchronized attacks on AI laboratories across the country. Will is given no more than a month to live. In desperation, Evelyn comes up with a plan to upload Will's consciousness into the quantum computer that the project has developed. His best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), also a researcher, questions the wisdom of this choice. Will's likeness survives his body's death and requests that he will be connected to the Internet to grow in capability and knowledge. Max panics, insisting that the computer intelligence is not Will. Evelyn forces Max to leave and connects the computer intelligence to the Internet via satellite. Max is almost immediately confronted by Bree (Kate Mara), the leader of R.I.F.T. Max is captured by the terrorists and eventually persuaded to join them. The government is also deeply suspicious of what Will's uploaded persona will do and plans to use the terrorists to take the blame for the government's actions to stop him. In his virtual form, and with Evelyn's help, Will uses his new-found vast intelligence to build a technological utopia in a remote desert town called Brightwood, where he spearheads the development of groundbreaking new technologies in the fields of medicine, energy, biology and nanotechnology. But even Evelyn begins to grow fearful of Will's motives when he displays the ability to remotely connect to and control people's minds after they have been subjected to his nano-particles. FBI agent Donald Buchanan (Cillian Murphy), with the help of government scientist Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman), prepares to stop the technological singularity from spreading. As Will has spread his influence to all the networked computer technology in the world, R.I.F.T develops a computer virus with the purpose of deleting Will's source code, killing him and, as a necessary side effect, destroying technological civilization. All the characters, Bree, Max, Tagger, Evelyn, and even Will Caster himself, are forced to choose between uploading the virus or risking assimilation into Will's Transcendence, which holds the promise of ending pollution, disease, and human mortality. When Evelyn goes back to the research center, she is taken aback seeing Will in a newly created organic body identical to his old one. Will welcomes her but is instantly aware that she is carrying the virus and intends to destroy him. The FBI and the activists of R.I.F.T. attack the base with mortars, fatally wounding Evelyn. Will is given the choice between healing Evelyn's body, or protecting her by uploading her mind as she did his, which will also infect him with the virus. After being threatened by Bree to upload the virus or see his friend Max die, Will hesitates. Evelyn tells Will that no one should die for their mistake. Thus, Will chooses to spare the people he loves instead of saving technological civilization. As Will is dying he explains to Evelyn that he did what he did for her: saving the planet was her wish, to learn the secrets of the universe was his. Evelyn then realizes it was Will all along and whatever he did was actually all for her. Then the virus kills both Will and Evelyn, and a global technology collapse and blackout ensues.
Three years later, in Will and Evelyn's garden outside their old home in Berkeley, Max notices that their sunflowers are the only blooming plants within it. Upon closer examination, he notices that a drop of water falling from a sunflower petal instantly cleanses a puddle of oil — and realizes that the Faraday cage has also protected a sample of Will's nano-particles. The audience is left to infer that Will and Evelyn's awarenesses are still alive within the active nano-particles, giving the world a second chance at Transcendence.
