Transcendence

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2:24

Transcendence

PG-13

Released Apr 18, 2014

1h 59m

Sci-Fi

Action

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

19%

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225 Reviews

37%

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50,000+ Ratings

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence, is conducting highly controversial experiments to create a sentient machine. When extremists try to kill the doctor, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed. Will's wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), and best friend, Max (Paul Bettany), can only watch as his thirst for knowledge evolves to an omnipresent quest for power, and his loved ones soon realize that it may be impossible to stop him.

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Critics Consensus

In his directorial debut, ace cinematographer Wally Pfister remains a distinctive visual stylist, but Transcendence's thought-provoking themes exceed the movie's narrative grasp.

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Roxana Hadadi

Punch Drunk Critics

There's no surprise here; no nuance. And without any understanding of its subject matter or any interest in making others understand, either, Transcendence gives you very little reason to care.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 9, 2017

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David Sims

The Atlantic

Pfister and Paglen are going for emotional intimacy, but they forgot to add enough shading to their ensemble to land any kind of punch.

Sep 22, 2016

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

Pfister manages to put up one eye-catching image after another, yet never engages us for more than a moment.

Jun 18, 2016

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

“Transcendence” looked good on paper but not in execution.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 27, 2022

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Transcendence looks like a top-notch production, but nothing about it stands out in any way.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 15, 2022

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Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

Asks some interesting questions but might have been more thought provoking if it was a better movie

Rated: 2/5

Feb 1, 2021

Full Review

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Mr. S

Watched this movie with a friend, and honestly there are hundreds of negative reviews on here, most of the people here don't have brain cells, they don't stop for a minute and actually think about what they're watching, they need it to be in short form content, honestly the entire aspect of it being bad because it's either emotionless, has plot holes, or whatever else excuse they make up is baloney, the emotions were perfectly in place depending on the situations and context, the plot holes were apparent in some small areas and details, but it IS a science fiction at the end of the day so you can't expect it to be perfect, but most of the things in the movie could be answered if you gave it a single thought.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/03/25

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Grzegorz M

Shallow, boring, very poorly written story, weak action and no plot twists. One of worst films that i watched.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/02/25

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Julian Rex M

Content to settle for long pontifications about the nature of artificial intelligence and mankind instead of rendering convincing characters or anchoring drama, Transcendence fails to generate any intrigue, involvement, or subtlety that could make this narratively flat anachronism worth a backwards glance.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/07/25

Full Review

Janos K

terrible, for an AI this supposedly surpassed the entirety of human intelligence it is a fucking moron and how did the failures hack it? Max failed at his research and obviously it means nobody and nothing else can succeed.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/11/24

Full Review

Gorptholemew T

🍀 2.3/10 Johnny Depp‘s emotionless floating head is something that can only be captured in nightmares. honestly, if this film came out today, I bet people would say it was made by ai it just perfectly captures dullness in a way i’ve never actually seen it done. It beautifully depicts the Number of my sanity, dropping questioning why I even took time out of my life to watch it.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/25/24

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Colin M

A version of the familiar story, I.T. and computers will take over this world.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/23/24

Full Review

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Wally Pfister

Director

Johnny Depp

Will Caster

Rebecca Hall

Evelyn Caster

Paul Bettany

Max Waters

Cillian Murphy

Agent Buchanan

Kate Mara

Bree

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Transcendence: Trailer 1

2:24

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Synopsis

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence, is conducting highly controversial experiments to create a sentient machine. When extremists try to kill the doctor, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed. Will's wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), and best friend, Max (Paul Bettany), can only watch as his thirst for knowledge evolves to an omnipresent quest for power, and his loved ones soon realize that it may be impossible to stop him.

Director: Wally Pfister
Producer: Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino, Annie Marter, David Valdes, Aaron Ryder
Screenwriter: Jack Paglen
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Straight Up Films, DMG Entertainment, Alcon Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action and Violence|Brief Strong Language|Sensuality|Some Bloody Images)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 18, 2014, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 14, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $23.0M
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos

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