I went by myself last Sunday to see a matinee of "Transcendence", with Johnny Depp. I can't honestly say I recommend it, though visually it is beautiful, and it has interesting ideas to think about. Depp plays the film straight, or as straight as he can. His "look" is too studied, and really no Berkeley science professor looks like he thinks they do. I got a kick out of his perfect Berkeley house and scenes around campus. One thing I am liking to see: like Tom Cruise, Depp is no longer hiding how tiny he is and everyone towers over him. Unfortunately, that includes Rebecca Hall playing his wife. She looks so big boned and almost hulky beside him, and although, yes, real life couples can be physical opposites, it just doesn't work and and there is no chemistry between them. And this is supposed to be, in essence, a love story.
Saving the day is Paul Bettany, much more gorgeous than Depp, tall and sexy, and you keep hoping he will end up with Hall. Not a good complication. I always love seeing Bettany, and here he and Hall get to do all the emoting. There's weeping, gnashing of teeth, and more weeping. It's a very gushy film.
The science makes no sense, despite countless drips of water and particles flying up in the air. But I don't mind that so much. Morgan Freeman plays himself or a variation thereof, but as usual, his presence lends a weird kind of credibility.
I really want Depp to win an Oscar, and it looks like he's figured out he needs some "normal" roles to get it. He should have gotten it for "Neverland", but oh, well. He needs to have roles that show his ordinary humanity, and this film is a step in that direction. But gorgeous as he is, he needs to get over his own face and sink more into his character. I love his Tim Burton films, but they have somehow hurt his credibility. Some moviegoers find him vain and flippant. The Oscar is a popularity contest, and it's hard to call Depp likeable, though it's easy to call him a genius.
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