Movie stars go through ebbs and flow in their careers. Around fifteen years ago, the public perception of Tom Cruise was unlike what it is today. Johnny Depp was the highest-paid actor in the world back in 2012. Just a few years later, he headlined one flop after another. Among those disasters, Transcendence may be the most notable.
Science fiction tends towards cynicism. Understandably, a glimpse at the future will rarely offer a reward, but a lot of sci-fi authors see science as part of the problem. Anti-science science fiction is shockingly common. Transcendence takes the concept to the big screen with a "kids these days need to get off of their phones" level of understanding.
What is Transcendence About?
Transcendence follows Will and Evelyn Caster, a married duo of scientists who study the development of sentient AI. Along with a team of fellow intellectuals, they're close to inciting a technological singularity. A self-proclaimed neo-Luddite group called "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" or R.I.F.T. attacks the Casters. A terrorist shoots Will with a radioactive bullet. Will's untimely death is guaranteed, but he still has time. Evelyn refuses to say goodbye to her husband, so she sets to work uploading his consciousness to their quantum computer. Will's best friend, Max, points out the scientific problem with the idea, but he's ignored. Within the month, Caster is uploaded into the machine and imbued with incredible technological power. Will starts to change the world, but R.I.F.T. continues its battle. As Will's influence grows, even Evelyn and Max begin to wonder whether Will's intentions are pure.
How Does Transcendence End?
Will's digital form starts his campaign for a technocratic utopia by creating a perfect oasis in a remote desert town called Brightwood. He's able to work in peace for more than two years, making several important strides in various fields. He develops groundbreaking nanotechnology that allows him to interface with any other device. Unfortunately, it also allows him to control the mind of any person exposed to them. Will develops code that allows him to influence every connected device in the world. R.I.FT. continues to work against him, and his sharp increase in power brings the FBI into the battle. The two organizations combine their efforts to create a virus that will destroy Will. Evelyn is tasked with shutting him down by infecting herself with the virus and uploading her consciousness to the machine. Since Will is tied into every existing network, shutting him down will mean the end of all technology.
Evelyn approaches her research center to upload the virus. Will has created a new organic body to live in. He already knows her plan and seems to be relatively okay with it. R.I.F.T. and the FBI attack the facility, immediately fatally wounding Evelyn. The leader of R.I.F.T. threatens Max's life if Will doesn't upload the virus. To save his friend, Will allows himself and his wife to die. Will explains, in detail, that he did what he did to protect the environment and undo human damage to nature. In his final moments, he speaks to Evelyn about her garden. Both Will and Evelyn are killed by the virus, which also causes a global blackout and the end of all technology. Three years later, Max discovers that Will secretly constructed a Faraday Cage around his and Evelyn's old home. Max finds Will's sentient nanoparticles alive and well in the garden.
Why Did Transcendence Fail?
Transcendence earned $103 million on a budget between $100 and $150 million. Conventional box office wisdom suggests doubling the production budget to account for marketing, placing the film's financial losses somewhere between $50 and $100 million. The most conservative estimates put the losses near $35 million. Johnny Depp's salary consumed around a fifth of the production budget. The film's opening weekend placed it at #4, falling behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Heaven is for Real, and Rio 2. It played in 3,455 theaters on opening weekend, raking in an average of $3,151 per theater. An average of just under 400 people would've seen it in each theater. The film didn't earn a reprieve, thanks primarily to the withering critical reception. In addition, Depp's star power had been savagely diminished by terrible decisions like The Lone Ranger. His career has come and gone, but the early 2010s were rough for Johnny Depp vehicles without the word Pirate in the title. People weren't interested in seeing Captain Sparrow out of the eyeliner or in an awful sci-fi movie.
Transcendence isn't the worst sci-fi film ever made. Being worse might have made it more memorable. Transcendence was the directorial debut of celebrated cinematographer Wally Pfister, who has not attempted to direct a feature again since. Some sci-fi movies fail because they're before their time. Others are too derivative to be interesting. Transcendence takes a moderately compelling premise and drives it into an early grave with a dull incurious take on its themes. Don't bother uploading this one.