Hollywood has never lacked productions that take artificial intelligence as their theme. Transcendence is the latest, hitting China's screens last Friday, opening at the same time as in the US - although the 3D version is only being shown on the Chinese mainland. 

Even though the film's director, Wally Pfister, won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Inception (2010), his directorial debut is a run-of-the-mill sci-fi flick whose exploration of the relationship between humans and technology is as likely to elicit yawns as it is thoughtful debate.

Still, the film is likely to draw crowds, with Christopher Nolan of The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) and Inception fame overseeing as executive producer, and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman and Rebecca Hall.

Johnny Depp plays Will Caster in Transcendence. Photos: CFP

The film opens in a dilapidated backyard in Berkley, California, where Max Waters (Paul Bettany) recalls that it was the residence of his best friends, Will Caster (Johnny Depp) and his wife Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall). The three were a team dedicated to developing artificial intelligence.

Will Caster is at the forefront of the research, developing PINN, a physically independent neural network. This hyper-intelligent system includes all the knowledge that humankind has accumulated and Will believes it will be able to accomplish many feats such as curing cancer.

To raise funds in order to continue his research, Will gives a speech regarding his work. But he is shot by a member of an extremist anti-technology group. Although Will survives the shooting, it is soon discovered that the bullet was painted with a fatal radioactive material, meaning he has just five weeks to live.

Evelyn thinks of using PINN to help her husband cheat death, and begs Max to help upload Will's brain to PINN. If they succeed, her husband's consciousness will continue to exist in the virtual space. They succeed and, soon after Will's cremation, he comes back on the computer screen, first as text, but soon as a voice and eventually an accompanying image.

However, soon after his revival, Will asks to get connected to the Internet and Wall Street. Max questions if this is really the man he knew. He suggests to Evelyn that they shut the system down, but overjoyed at her husband's return, Evelyn doesn't listen. She then helps Will build an underground lab powered by a huge array of solar panels in a remote, deserted town.

Morgan Freeman

The abilities of the PINN version of Will continuously develop until he can achieve apparent miracles such as curing a dying man within a few minutes, returning eyesight to a man born blind and getting a paralyzed man back on his feet. However, these people all get connected to the computer, essentially becoming Will's denizens. Eventually, the system even manages to regenerate a physical Will Caster.

Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman), a pal of Will and also an artificial intelligence researcher, warns Evelyn that the lab and Will are dangerous, and that she should escape. She finally begins to rethink her actions. But Will has become extremely powerful. Evelyn volunteers to use herself as bait to take him down.

The plot of the film is very simple. Artificial intelligence and its relationship with mankind have been repeatedly discussed in many films. With the love between Will and Evelyn serving as the main thread of the film, it's reminiscent of the recent remake RoboCop (2014). The miraculous technologies presented in this film, like healing seriously ill patients within just a few seconds, have already been shown in the sci-fi action film Elysium (2013), among others.

A poster for the film

Everyone's a critic

Luis Schade

German, 3 years in Shanghai

"Transcendence is the kind of movie that makes people think twice about the relationship between humans and technology, and between mankind and nature. We are passionate about our technological breakthroughs. But what if one day we lose control of the technologies we develop? It would be  terrible if computers stole our souls."

Zhao Ziliang

29, Shanghainese

"I don't see the necessity of releasing the film in 3D. None of the shots produce any special 3D effect. The viewing experience is made even worse as the 3D glasses in the cinema lower the brightness of the image. I can't see why it has to be a 3D film to guarantee a box office hit on the Chinese mainland."

Lin Wenxue

32, Shanghainese

"The death and revival of Will Caster could be sensational plot points, but there is no extreme grief or joy. I think this helps to maintain the calm and sober nature of a science fiction film. Of course, it's not a profound film. It doesn't require viewers to repeatedly think over its details to find their way through. But this easy approach can still make us think about how we develop science and technology."