THE DARK KNIGHT RISES cinematographer Wally Pfister is making his directorial debut with the techno thriller TRANSCENDENCE starring Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany, and Rebecca Hall and today we’ve got a very brief teaser to entice you into theaters for it. Depp plays a scientist who finds a way to merge his mind with a machine, but with disasterous results (of course). It’s not the most awe-inspiring premise, but it’s definitely intriguing.
Heeeere’s Johnny!:
Here’s the synopsis:
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.
I’m interested to see how Pfister pulls this off more than anything. The cast is great, no doubt, but I’m not concerned with them doing a good job. We’ve seen the man vs. machine/technology thing done quite a bit, which I’m sure Pfister has taken into account, so it not becomes how he’ll tell the story in a new and original way. So far, I’m intrigued, but not completely sold that it will be a guaranteed knockout.
TRANSCENDENCE opens on April 18, 2014.