Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) & his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) were largely involved in a project to develop a sentient artificial intelligence or in simpler words, a computer that could perceive & feel emotions. In their way was a group of terrorists who felt that the advanced technology may bring destruction to mankind. 

At first, I didn't want to watch this movie because of the hate it received. Most of my friends didn't like it & some even referred it as the downfall of Johnny Depp. 

Note to self: Don't trust reviews. Go watch and judge for yourself. 

I'm so glad that my brother in law persuaded me to watch this movie with him because I like it a lot. 

What to expect from this movie? Well, first of all, the pace is rather slow. You might fall asleep if you watch it while you're tired. I'm not saying that it's boring but it has many explanations. Almost every development in the movie requires attention & elaboration. I think it has a sort of documentary vibe to it.

Don't expect this movie to be in the same category as Terminator. Yes, both are sci-fi but Transcendence is not an action movie. It's sci-fi with a bit of action seasoning which is necessary. 

What I like about the movie is the story. I am quite geeky though not extremely. Just a bit geeky. I love the concept of nano-technology in cartoons & comic books thus I have no problem in understanding & embracing what's really happening in the movie. I love how rapid the development of the technology in the hands of computerized Will. I love the enigma of "Is it really Will or is it an evil computer impersonating Will?". What's Will's true intention? These questions managed to make me focus on the movie from start til end. 

I understand why people don't like Transcendence. Besides the slow pace, most people I know have trouble synthesizing the story & accepting that the things happening in the movie can really happen in real life. This movie is not for everyone. It's a movie for geeks like me. 

Acting performance wise, I must praise Rebecca Hall because she's excellent in portraying Will's wife, Evelyn Caster. She's so full of emotions. I bet many people can't accept how normal Johnny Depp is in the movie. Despite the absence of his signature quirks, I think Depp did good. Especially in showing the affectionate emotions of Will towards Evelyn. Besides that, Paul Bettany and Kate Mara also did a good job in their roles. I would love to see more of Kate Mara in movies.

Another thing worth mentioning is the beautiful visual effects. I love how they visualized swarms of nanobots attacking, vaporizing, and spreading.  

All in all, this movie is not for everyone. I love this movie because I love the concept of nano-technology & humanistic computer. Many people are not too fond of the concept. The pacing is very slow. Not an action movie. Acting performance is good. 

7 out of 10 stars

Ubaid is now 1 year and a half. 

These pictures were taken when wifey, Ubaid & I went for a picnic at Taman Botani, Putrajaya. Ubaid now loves to play football. He's now able to kick a ball while running. 

It's fun to see him running around like the happiest & healthiest kid in the world. 

At first she was on a branch of a tree that's a few meters away from me. A moment later, she was so close, I could feel her warm breath touching my face. 

A teleporter. 

"What do you want?", I asked her. I intended to sound tough but my voice came out shaken instead. I was nervous. 

She smiled a wicked smile. A smile so wicked, I just know she's up to no good. Her right hand touched my chest and suddenly the ground disappeared. The trees around me disappeared. Everything disappeared and I was surrounded by nothing. 

She teleported me up into the air. So high into the air. 

I sort of floated for a second and then I fell. Abruptly I picked up speed. I could see the ground became closer and closer in an instant. 

THUDDD. I hit the ground hard. 

I opened my eyes and I saw red. Blood. I closed my eyes and tried to analyse the damage. I 'ordered' every living cell on my body to give me a status report. Yes, you heard me. I ordered them. That's my power. Cell manipulation. I could control every cell of my body just as easy as controlling my hand to grab something. Besides that, I could regenerate damaged tissues and mend broken bones in an instant. 

I hoped she didn't know about my special abilities and walked away. 

My left leg was twisted, my ribs were broken and one of them punctured my right lung, and both of my hands broke at several places. Tchh. Nothing that I couldn't repair. I collected the huge amount of protein from the steaks I ate earlier and repaired myself. After a couple of minutes, I was good as I was before the fall. 

I stood up. My clothes were torn and dirty. I looked around and found that I was surrounded by trees again. Then I saw her in the trees. 

"Fascinating", she said. "Lets see how you survive a fall from a higher position." 

Before I could react, her hands were already wrapping me and I felt moist. 

Rain? No. Moisture. She said higher position. Shit. She teleported me to the clouds. 

"Have fun". She let go. 

I fell again. Shit. If I survive this, I would most probably develop a fear of heights. On the bright side, I now know what it felt like to sky dive. Always wanted to try that shit. 

I did say I could manipulate my cells, right? To repair myself. Well, regeneration was not the only thing that I could do. I could also manipulate my cells to adapt to various nature and situation. In simpler words, I could grow wings. 

I made my bones hollow, like birds', to make myself lighter. I ripped my shirt off and formed a set of wings at my back. Huge white wings grew and I flapped and flapped to slow my descend. I flapped and flapped and I soared. 

An eagle. That's what I needed to be. All of my fingernails transformed into long, sharp talons. My eyes became extremely sharper. I was an eagle. Well, sort of. 

I scanned the forest from above. Trying to find her. 

She found me first. 

"Bird boy!!" she teleported above my head. She was holding a katana. "Let me fry you like chicken!" She swung the machete with the intention of decapitating me. 

But I was ready.

I transformed my tongue to be like a frog's earlier. However, at the tip of the tongue, I added a snake's fang. In split seconds, I curled myself like a pangolin and avoided the slash, spit my elongated tongue and injected her sword hand with viper venom. 

She disappeared. 

To be continued. or not. Depends. Haha... I leisurely wrote this. Just for fun.