Wally Pfister’s film “Transcendence” depicts Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) working toward the advancement of artificial intelligence, but those that work with and for him are taken down by an anti-technology group. Caster gets shot and is dying, which leads his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), and friend, Max (Paul Bettany), to upload him into the system, creating an artificial intelligence of Caster.

This movie encourages us to think about our relationship with technology and how far we are willing to take it. How hooked are we and how is it controlling our daily lives? It asks if we are willing to let technology get so advanced that it becomes self aware, that it desires to make changes, mend people and take matters into its own hands.

If someone were to be uploaded to such a system, we wouldn’t know how much of them remained the human person and how much of them had changed to accommodate the artificial intelligence.

This movie also probes the idea of how long we are willing to hold onto something from the past before letting it go. Evelyn allowed her husband’s artificial intelligence to thrive for five years before realizing it was an invasion of humanity and privacy.

Overall, the movie was easy to follow and different, but it wasn’t believable. If the solution of destroying an artificial intelligence that has access to every aspect of technology was to simply upload a virus that would utterly destroy all of technology, more people would probably act out.

If people suddenly no longer had access to phones, the Internet and power, riots would break out because today’s society relies so heavily on technology.

Adding to the disbelief of the story was the lack of action and intensity. Strangely, no casualties were taken in the final battle to take down the system. Despite the trailer hinting at some action, the plot line was pretty dull.

For a majority of the movie I was rather perplexed, and I left the theater in frustration because I thought it was going to be so much more than it had been. It’s strange to say, but it was too simple and too laid back.