Transcendence promises something a little different in that the computer in question is a melding of machine and man.

FILM Transcendence (M) 2.5 stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany Directed by Wally Pfister REVIEW MARK NAGLAZAS

After the sensuality and subtlety of Her, in which Scarlett Johansson plays an operating system with a mind of its own, we're now back in the more conventional sci-fi universe with Transcendence, in which computers are depicted not as helpers to mankind but their enemy.

However, Transcendence promises something a little different in that the computer in question is a melding of machine and man, a combination of the cold-blooded logic of a system built on zeroes and ones and the capriciousness and flaws of even the most logical of humans.

The man in question is a visionary scientist named Will Caster who is working towards creating a computer that will achieve "singularity" or "transcendence", a machine that will bring together the accumulated knowledge of all mankind and the ability to think and make its own decisions.

Indeed, Max goes so far as to believe that such a machine will be exactly like what we imagine God to be.

When Will is fatally wounded by a group of anti-technology revolutionaries, his colleague-wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and his best friend and fellow scientist Max Walters (Paul Bettany), who has been doing advanced research into artificial intelligence, make the bold decision to upload his brain into the quantum computer on which he's been working.

Once merged with the computer - indeed, all the computers in the world via the internet - Will takes steps not just to protect himself from the luddite revolutionaries and the American government, who are worried what he might do. He creates a command centre in a sleepy desert town with the aid of the devoted Evelyn, using millions plucked from the stockmarket to set up a laboratory that will allow him to realise his dream of solving all of mankind's ills - pollution, disease, even mortality - with his new God-like power.

The idea of a man merging his personality with a computer is fascinating. It brings into focus some of the most pressing issues of the day, such as what happens to our humanity in the face of cold logic, be it machines or the marketplace.

However, Depp is such a bland performer when not playing loveable crackpots he virtually disappears in Transcendence, leaving an emotional and intellectual hole at the centre of an otherwise polished, handsome- looking movie, the directorial debut of Christopher Nolan's regular cinematographer Wally Pfister.

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Mission takes on mind of its own