Kurt Loder Reviews Transcendence
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Transcendence is a '50s sci-fi movie updated to address our misgivings about the future toward which science now seems to be leading us. In place of the irradiated insects and atom-brained creatures of old, the menace here is provided by artificial intelligence, a subject of deep existential creepiness. First-time screenwriter Jack Paglen duly ticks off the moral concerns, and first-time director Wally Pfister (Christopher Nolan's go-to cinematographer) never allows the action to swamp the story's philosophical implications, writes Kurt Loder.