Okay, I think I have the studios figured out. The recent trend toward not screening a movie, or screening it too late for reviewing press to make deadline, must be the studios’ clever attempt at using  reverse-psychology. We (reviewers) are conditioned to believe that any time a movie is not screened or screened last minute, that there must be some horrible problem plaguing the movie, hence their unwillingness to pre-screen it. Such was the case with Surrogates when I saw it last night.

Bracing myself for a stinkbomb, I emerged from the screening and proclaimed to the studio rep: “It was not terrible. I think I kind of liked it.” Hardly a ringing endorsement, to be sure, but I think that is part of their strategy. If they set the expectation bar low, when the movie is not horrible the viewer will be delighted by this welcome surprise. 

Surrogates could have been one hell of a movie had it’s intriguing premise been well executed. Despite the film’s flaws, I found it thought-provoking enough that I would definitely recommend it to fans of the sci-fi genre or Bruce Willis.  I absolutely love a movie that makes me think, and this one had my head swimming with the ethical implications of bio-medical research, the prevalence of electronic media in our lives, and our (as a society) startling retreat from one-on-one human interaction.  Any movie that makes me take pause to analyze the message is worthy of a recommendation.

We’ve discussed the notion of how cool it would be to see a movie where Bruce Willis takes on an army of robots, and this week, we’ll actually get to see it happen in theaters across the country. This Friday marks the national release of Bruce Willis in Surrogates from Disney and Touchstone pictures.

For those who are unaware of the film’s premise, yet intrigued by the idea of Willis kicking tin butt, the plot is simple. Humans grow lazy and develop a robotics program that allows them to play as robot versions of themselves from the comfort of their own homes. Those robots are able to do all the things that humans could not, without all the risk of…well, risk. This is all good and well until a person gets murdered when his surrogate is killed. FBI agent Bruce Willis is on the job, and in order to do it, he must step outside as himself, not his robotic counterpart.

There’s a brand new featurette hitting the web, which has a few people from the film discussing it. Alongside stars Willis and Radha Mitchell is director Jonathan Mostow, producer Max Handelman and co-writer of the original graphic novel, Robert Venditti.

Check out the video after the jump, and catch Surrogates in theaters this Friday.

Well, at least I think he does. Although, if this trailer for his new film Surrogates is any indication, there’s not much Willis character likes about anything in this film. In fact, he seems a bit perturbed.

In case you’re not familiar with Surrogates, which is based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti, it concerns two FBI agents (Willis and Radha Mitchell) investigating the murder of a college student linked to a man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon. This technology allows people to purchase perfect robotic versions of themselves which, of course, leads to all kind of trouble.

I like Bruce Willis in pretty much anything he does and its nice to see Radha Mitchell in a movie that looks much better than the last one I saw her in — the craptastic giant killer crocodile film Rogue, co-starring Michael “just doing it for the paycheck” Vartan.

Plus, this movie is directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines, Breakdown), a guy who’s films usually are quite good. So, that might mean this movie could actually be good too. We’ll find out when Surrogates hits theaters September 25th. Until then, check out this brand new trailer.