Surrogates

"How do you save humanity when the only thing that's real is you?"

2009 1h 29m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 3,563

Science FictionActionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

“How do you save humanity when the only thing that's real is you?”

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Cast

Bruce Willis
Tom Greer
Radha Mitchell
Jennifer Peters
Rosamund Pike
Maggie Greer
James Cromwell
Dr. Lionel Canter
Ving Rhames
Prophet
Helena Mattsson
JJ the Blonde
Boris Kodjoe
Andrew Stone
Ian Novick
Andre

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Writers: John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Languages: English, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

700+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jonathan Mostow, shot by Oliver Wood. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Richard Marvin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Kevin Stitt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jonathan Mostow directs. Oliver Wood behind the camera. Richard Marvin scores. Kevin Stitt cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
3Released 17 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
5700+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Jonathan Mostow, shot by Oliver Wood. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Richard Marvin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Kevin Stitt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell and Rosamund Pike carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "How do you save humanity when the only thing that's real is you?".
11IMDB entry: tt0986263 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 8 themes, including "future", "clone", "dystopia", "based on comic".
13Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Oliver Wood
Original score: Richard Marvin
Editing: Kevin Stitt
Production design: Jeff Mann
Costume design: April Ferry
Makeup / hair: Jeff Dawn
VFX supervisor: Sean Devereaux
Sound: Jon Johnson
Stunt coordinator: Jery Hewitt
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $80,000,000
Box office: $122,444,772
Return: 153% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Surrogates (2009)

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Jonathan Mostow

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What people are saying

John Chard2019-10-18
★ 7/10
Surrogacy is a perversion. It's an addiction. And you have to kill the addict to kill the addiction. I first viewed Surrogates upon its home format release and positively found it very ordinary. Viewing it again, with focus and in solitude, it proved to be a far better experience. The action scenes are what you would expect for a multi-plex appeasing popcorner, loud, colourful and owing great debt to modern technology. Yet to dismiss this totally as one of those easy money making blockbuster movies is most unfair. Surrogates oozes intrigue, even if it doesn't quite deliver on the smartness written on the page. The idea that in the future robotic alter egos can carry out our everyday mundane functions is cracker-jack, and it opens up a whole can of berserker worms. This is not merely an excuse to have Bruce Willis running around exploding surrogate robots, as much fun as that is of course, there's a deeper emotional core pulsing away as Willis fights the good fight to make sure being human is not cast aside like a thing of the past, that as flawed as we are, hiding away in a surrogate is not the answer. This axis of the story is beautifully realised by the plot strand involving Willis and Rosamund Pike as his wife, with both actors doing fine work to give it the required emotional heft. It may ultimately lose itself to a standard conspiracy plot, but there's intelligence within to make Surrogates a better film than it first appears. 7/10
RalphRahal2025-03-03
★ 5/10
Surrogates (2009) takes an interesting concept, people living through robotic avatars, and turns it into a straightforward action thriller. The plot is easy to follow, with a few twists along the way, but it never really digs deep into the bigger questions it could have explored. The movie has a polished look, and the visual effects for the surrogates are decent for the time, making them feel just artificial enough. The directing keeps the pacing tight, but the script doesn't do much beyond moving the story from one action scene to the next. There's a moment or two where it tries to be thought-provoking, but it doesn’t fully commit. Bruce Willis does what he always does, playing the tough, weary protagonist, but there’s not much character depth to work with. The supporting cast does fine, but nothing really stands out. Ving Rhames' presence adds some weight to the film, but the dialogue overall is just serviceable. The score is typical for an action thriller, doing its job without being memorable. The cinematography is solid, with some good action sequences, but it doesn’t do anything particularly unique. The movie is entertaining enough, but if you were hoping for something as layered as I, Robot, this one doesn’t quite reach that level. Still, it’s a decent watch if you're in the mood for a simple, action-driven sci-fi flick.