Transcendence Teaser Has Johnny Depp Embracing The Singularity

There is no spoon.

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old


Last week, Warner Bros. released the first look at the new science fiction thriller Transcendence in the form of pictures and a synopsis. The directorial debut of Wally Pfister looks like it will be a gripping first effort from Christopher Nolan’s former cinematographer. Transcendence doesn’t hit theaters for a few more months, but now we can finally see the film’s first teaser trailer. It features a new look for its star Johnny Depp, who plays Dr. Will Caster, “the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence.”

The trailer is reminiscent of sci-fi movies from the ’90s such as The Lawnmower Man, Johnny Mnemonic, and Virtuosity, movies that feature man merging with computer technology in virtual reality worlds. Of course, the CGI featured in Transcendence will hopefully be better than the special effects from the movies listed above, but to be fair, it was the early ’90s, when CGI technology was in its infancy. Nevertheless, Transcendence looks like it will be a good thriller with an all-star cast.

We expect to hear more about the film in the new year. A theatrical trailer should shed some more light on the film’s narrative, but the teaser gives audiences just a taste of Transcendence‘s strangeness. After all, the teaser features Johnny Depp as binary code.

Outside of an official synopsis, there’s not much known about Transcendence. While it’s one of the most anticipated movies of 2014, it will have to compete with Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi film Interstellar. Nolan’s film is likely to be the bigger draw with general audiences, with Nolan’s name attached to movies like The Dark Knight, Inception, and Memento, but Transcendence looks like it will be more than a solid thriller with a lot of talented people behind its production.

Wally Pfister definitely has a great visual eye and totally deserves to make his own movie. He even won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the film Inception in 2010. Pfister had worked with Christopher Nolan since the year 2000, beginning with Memento, so we’re guessing he might know a thing or two about making a high-quality movie.

Transcendence follows Dr. Will Caster, a scientist who wants to meld human intelligence and emotions with computer technology. While his highly controversial experiments gain him worldwide celebrity, Dr. Caster is the target of anti-technology extremists who want to stop him at any cost. During an experiment, Dr. Caster becomes “transcendent” with a new supercomputer. Now his colleagues and family have to stop Dr. Caster as he becomes more and more powerful.

Jack Paglen wrote the script for Transcendence, which will be his feature film debut. He has also worked on other sci-fi films such as the upcoming Edge of Tomorrow for director Doug Liman. Jack Paglen’s screenplay for Transcendence was featured on the so-called Black List, a list of most-liked unproduced screenplays, in 2012. Christopher Nolan and his producing partner and wife Emma Thomas will be the film’s executive producers. Wally Pfister’s directorial debut also stars Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany, Cole Hauser, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Cory Hardrict.

Transcendence will hit theaters everywhere on April 18, 2014.