The first two teasers for TRANSCENDENCE have talked about the advances of the human brain to artificial intelligence, first with Johnny Depp‘s character talking about it in a positive way while Morgan Freeman narrated to the contrary. Now, we have a third teaser narrated by Kate Mara in which she takes a wholly oppositional stance and demands the ousting of those who create omnipotent computers. The result sounds very much like what you would expect from a TERMINATOR movie as she calls for the death to the machines through her revolutionary group known as RIFT.
Whatever will come of these teasers, I commend them for being so damn intriguing. We still have no idea what Wally Pfister‘s directorial debut will actually look like but we have a much better idea at the tone the movie will take. Putting Johnny Depp in an ambiguously villainous role is a bold move that we haven’t seen from the actor in a long while. And I can never complain about having more Kate Mara on the big screen.
Dr. Will Caster is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed—to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn and friend Max, both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can… but if they should. Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power—to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.
TRANSCENDENCE comes from a screenplay by Jack Paglen and stars Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, and Cillian Murphy. It hits theaters on April 18, 2014.
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