The Surrogates (top shelf) by Robert Venditti , art & colour: Brett Weldele
First and foremost .. the movie is the shits. Read the graphic novel first then watch the movie for shits and giggles to appreciate the GN even more. Sorry Bruce Willis but it stunk.
The Surrogates book was sensational. Absolutely brilliant sci-fi/crime/thriller , the writing , the story , the characters , the art , the colour , the overall feel and look. Amazing.
The vigilante for the anti-surrogate movement , Steeplejack
genre: Sci-fi , crime-thriller , mystery ,
The plot: The year is 2054 , people can now live their everyday life through an artificial embodiment called surrogates , where you adopt an android replicant body and control it from the confines of your home. There is a mysterious figure whom is destroying people's surrogates , trying to evoke a revolt against this lifestyle and bring back the hands on humanity that has been lost. The main protoganist is a detective Lt Harvey Greer whom investigates this serial crime spree against "surries" as they call them. This leads onto a wild goose chase and the mystery slowly unravels itself..
The prophet of the anti-surrogate movement. Its David Koresh gone reggae.
me: Again ..I fuckin loved it. I remember when this came out and it was being buzzed about , I was tempted to go buy this comic back then , took 4 years for me to finally get to reading this.
The under layering theme of accepting mortality and accepting nature's aging process. The surrogate is a metaphor for the loss art of social interaction to the internet but also for superficial self image we tend to lose priorities. Harvey's wife had a small but powerful role in the theme. I just embraced the sci fi aspect of this book , it was just enthralling , the concepts and the ideologies .. so thought provoking.
The pacing was perfect.. just perfect. The crime solving and detective work which leads up to action sequences done so eloquently just kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Im pretty sure I shat myself just a little during a couple parts.
Buy/Borrow/Bury:
Buy. This would be a excellent addition to any library.
I bought mine for $7 on sale so the value is there , but if you cant find one on sale and dont feel like paying cover price , borrow this and get your hands on this , this must be read if you're into sci-fi.
Bury this if you have zero interest in sci-fior graphic novels but I strongly encourage to keep an open mind and never shut the door on any genre or medium.
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Why I hate the movie? SPOILERS
- The casting. From Willis to his wife to Canter ... this movie was horribly casted. Greer is an older , fatter dude.. there's a bunch of actors I easily picture in the lead role better like Dennis Franz for example. His wife is suppose to be older and fat too , she was young and skinny.. just a little unhealthy. Too much budget wasted on bigger names , this was an indy comic that should've went with an indy cast.
- The wife should've died , it was more impactful in the book when the wife killed herself , the statement was made. I really hated that they opted for play it safe ending caz we dont want to upset the morons.
- The elimination of Steeplejack , the main antogonist was changed completely for a twist ending.Steeplejack was a great piece of science fiction and mystery.. I understand the desire for the Shalayman shocker points of a movie but c'mon.. that was the back bone of the graphic novel.
- The direction , the movie had no identity , the pacing was way off and it completely dropped the ball on some of the under tones of the book. It felt rushed and lost at times. Weak screen play can do that I guess.
- The Dreads were heavily underplayed in this movie , the set choices were horrible.. broaddaylight in the park does nothing for the tone of the book. It should've been shot at night at the least.
- the decision to alter the role of Canter for the big twist ending. It sounds exciting in idea but you should've just stayed true to the book. It would've played out better.
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