Surrogates (2009)

Bruce Willis (Die Hard 4, The Fifth Element, 13 Monkeys) returns to the science fiction genre with this adaptation of a comic book that owes more than a little in style to Bladerunner (and some other SF films).

In the nearish future, people have no need to leave their houses and live their lives through robots they control remotely. The surrogates are better looking, more durable, and can be used and abused without complaint or any physical effect on the person controlling them. That is until people start dieing when their surrogate dies.

Bruce is the FBI agent investigating the deaths with his partner, Rhada Mitchell (Rogue, Pitch Black). Their enquiries lead through a tangled web involving an anti-surrogate campaigner, Ving Rhames (The Tournament, Day Of The Dead), and the creator for the surrogates, James Cromwell (I Robot, W, Spiderman 3, Revenge Of The Nerds). The social and moral issues of people living vicariously through robots provides a background for the story, but more through inference than being a crucial narrative.

Noone does the melancholy cop as good as Bruce and, if you can handle the derivative nature of the story and its implausibilities, he does it well again here.