Transcendence is a 2014 science fiction film directed by cinematographer Wally Pfister
in his directorial debut, and written by Jack Paglan.
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 released to mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office.
Plot Dr. Will Caster 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, whom he loves deeply, supports his efforts and joins him in their garden
where he has built a Faraday cage to keep out wireless signals.
However, the extremist group "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" shoots Will
with an irradiated bullet and carry out a series of synchronised attacks on his artificial-intelligence
computer laboratories.
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, 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 so as to grow in capability and knowledge.
Max panics, insisting that the computer intelligence is not Will.
Evelyn forcibly ejects Max from the building and connects the computer intelligence to
the Internet.
Max is almost immediately confronted by Bree, 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 person will do, and plans
to use the terrorists to take the blame for the government's actions to stop Will.
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, with the help of government scientist Joseph Tagger, prepares
to stop the technological singularity from spreading.
As Will has spread his influence to all of 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 of 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.
Evelyn tells Will that he can protect her by uploading her mind as she did his.
Will chooses to save 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.
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 things in 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.
Max infers that Will and Evelyn's consciousnesses are still alive within the active nano-particles,
giving the world a second chance at Transcendence.
Cast Johnny Depp as Dr. Will Caster, an artificial-intelligence
researcher.
Rebecca Hall as Evelyn Caster, Will's wife and a fellow academic.
Paul Bettany as Max Waters, Will's best friend.
Kate Mara as Bree, the leader of Revolutionary Independence From Technology
Cillian Murphy as Donald Buchanan, an FBI agent.
Morgan Freeman as Joseph Tagger, an FBI agent and old friend of Evelyn.
Cole Hauser as Colonel Stevens, a military officer.
Clifton Collins, Jr. as Martin Cory Hardrict as Joel Edmund, a member of
the R.I.F.T.
Unit.
Josh Stewart as Paul Production
Development Transcendence is directed by cinematographer
Wally Pfister in his directorial debut.
Jack Paglen wrote the initial screenplay for Pfister to direct, and producer Annie Marter
pitched the film to Straight Up Films.
The pitch was sold to Straight Up.
By March 2012, Alcon Entertainment acquired the project.
Alcon financed and produced the film; producers from Straight Up and Alcon joined together
for the film.
In the following June, director Christopher Nolan, for whom Pfister has worked as cinematographer,
and Nolan's producing partner Emma Thomas joined the film as executive producers.
Financing The Chinese company DMG Entertainment entered
a partnership with Alcon Entertainment to finance and produce the film.
While DMG contributed Chinese elements to Looper and Iron Man 3, it did not do so for
Transcendence.
Casting By October 2012, actor Johnny Depp entered
negotiations to star in Transcendence.
The Hollywood Reporter said Depp would have "a mammoth payday" with a salary of $20 million
versus 15 percent of the film's gross.
Pfister met with Noomi Rapace for the film's female lead role and also met with James McAvoy
and Tobey Maguire for the other male lead role.
The director offered a supporting role to Christoph Waltz.
In March 2013, Rebecca Hall was cast as the female lead.
By the following April, actors Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, and Morgan Freeman joined the main
cast.
Filming Continuing his advocacy for the use of film
stock over digital cinematography, Pfister chose to shoot the film in the anamorphic
format on 35 mm film.
The film went through a traditional photochemical finish instead of a digital intermediate.
In addition to film, a digital master was completed in 4K resolution, and the film was
additionally released in IMAX film format.
Transcendence was also scheduled for a 3D release in China.
Filming officially began in June 2013, and took place over a period of 62 days.
The majority of the movie was filmed in a variety of locations throughout Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
Music The musical score for the film composed by
Mychael Danna was released on April 15, through WaterTower Music.
A CD format of the score was released through Amazon.com.
Release Transcendence was released in theaters on
April 18, 2014.
It was originally scheduled for April 25, 2014.
Warner Bros. distributed the film in the United States and Canada.
Summit Entertainment is distributing it in other territories, except for China, Italy,
Hong Kong, Austria and Germany.
DMG Entertainment, who collaborated with Alcon Entertainment to finance and develop Transcendence,
distributed the film in China.
The Chinese version includes a 3D and IMAX 3D release, funded by DMG, which is done in
post-production.
Critical response The film received mixed reviews with criticism
aimed at the film's poor logic and storytelling.
The film review aggregator website Metacritic surveyed 45 critics and gave the film an aggregate
score of 42 out of 100, which it said indicates "mixed or average" reviews.
Metacritic assessed 27 reviews as mixed, ten as negative, and eight as positive.
The similar website Rotten Tomatoes scored the film with 19% based on a survey of 187
reviews assessed as positive or negative, with an average score of 4.6/10.
It assessed 151 as negative and 36 as positive.
Rotten Tomatoes said of the critics' consensus: "In his directorial debut, ace cinematographer
Wally Pfister remains a distinctive visual stylist, but Transcendence's thought-provoking
themes exceed the movie's narrative grasp."
AI researcher Stuart Russell claims that despite particular technical aspects of the movie
being "a non-starter", the basic premise of superhuman AI is quite possible, and that
"AI researchers must, like nuclear physicists and genetic engineers before them, take seriously
the possibility that their research might actually succeed and do their utmost to ensure
that their work benefits rather than endangers their own species."
Box office On the film's opening weekend in 3,455 theaters
in North America, it grossed $10,886,386.
Transcendence has grossed an estimated $23 million domestically and $67 million worldwide
for a total of $90 million.
Notes
References
External links Official website
Transcendence at the Internet Movie Database Transcendence at Box Office Mojo
Transcendence at Rotten Tomatoes Transcendence at Metacritic