But the reason for my post is because I've been thinking about the issue your review brings up for some time. That issue is "buy in". I passed on seeing A Knights Tale a couple of times because I happen to know a little about the historic culture of the Middle Ages. A Knights Tale is actually a modern movie showing a modern culture in a historic setting, for a modern audience. It's totally unacceptably ahistorical, despite it's pretentions. HOWEVER, I finally rented it once, and suspended my sense of stubborn disbelief, and really liked the movie! Enough to buy it! When by brother was very young, he liked to show off his knowledge. Once, when we were watching a humans with dinosaurs movie, he said, "If that dinosaur eats meat, then this movie is fake, because that type of dinosaur is a vegetarian!" We laughed and laughed, because the entire movie was fake. Dinosaurs never existed with humans. But we buy in to the story to enjoy it as we may.

'Buy in' is a neccessary ingredient to enjoy ANY movie. That's why your lack of buy in argument/reasoning failed to convince anybody. Interestingly, to me, this also seems to be somewhat the case in music, but I'm still exploring that angle.

Every movie creates its own reality, yes, and we prove to accept or reject that reality based on the evidence and facts presented to us. Surrogates suffers from so many problems, just last night I was discussing the movie once again and rattled them off one after another.

However, in writing a review I have to be careful with what I reveal and what I don't when it comes to specific faults I find because my opinion is mine and mine alone and to spoil a film for a reader that may disagree is disrespectful. I would have loved to simply list off my problems with Surrogates in this review and left it at that, but instead I said my peace and allow for others to disagree. Does it hurt my argument to not be able to tell you everything that bothered me? Certainly, but by leaving out details I allow my readers the opportunity to enjoy a movie I didn't particularly love, which to me is more important.

Science fiction and comic book adaptations are not unlike the Westerns that were once so prominently churned out for many, many decades. Most were run of the mill. Just there. Once in while there was one of particular note. I shouldn't get all bent out of shape over the many poor examples of this genre we are being served up. This too shall pass.

)@oldskool138: Come on! We create fictional worlds with each novel that is written and every film that is shot. And sometimes we create alternative universes or times, too. But they have to follow a rule of logic and a graspable concept. How does it make sense that people randomly give up their physicality, turning their lives over to robots? What would be the advantage? Looks? We'd be better looking?!!? To whom? To other robots?

@beachworld: What did you expect Brad to say? This film makes no sense, is so ludricrous in its delivery that you can get eye strain from the eye rolls, but the performances are nuanced and riveting? This is BRUCE WILLIS, the king of the exaggerated moment and the half smile. If he doesn't have a script to hang his hat upon, he doesn't have anything to give us. And when a film is this bad, how can you possibly expect praise for the director?

The universe Surrogates creates is our universe and when isn't science-fiction a metaphorical commentary on our own society? The point of a film like Surrogates is to create realism, to create an alternate reality, but a reality nonetheless. When that reality is flawed or is lacking in logic then we have a problem and if it is overwhelmingly flawed then it's even worse.

It seems odd to me a couple of you are not accepting of the reason I didn't like the movie as if I should come up with other reasons simply because I found the plot to be entirely stupid, which for some reason is not enough. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. If you see it and disagree then that's great, we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

As for the acting and the direction, I said all I felt I needed to say. Sometimes not saying something proves just as informative as breaking things down piece-by-piece, at least in my opinion.