This movie has always felt like it was weirdly behind its time. It's like one of the last action movies that feel distinctively like 2000s (as in mid-aughts) media to me.

It came out the same year as Nu Trek and the first of the new Sherlock Holmes, but visually has barely anything in common with those movies, even taking into account the disparity in budget.

Maybe a fairer comparison would be to more generic action sci-fi flicks with less distinctive directors like _Wolverine_ or _G.I. Joe_, but even then its visual language and effects feel outdated. This is why it's so easy to make the connection with _I, Robot_, besides the (incredibly underdeveloped) themes of humanity and identity — everything about the cinematography and aesthetics of _Surrogates_ is a rip-off of stuff that's at least 5 years old. It even lasts only 90 minutes when blockbusters of 2009 were already all straddling the 2-hour mark.