Consider “Surrogates” a CliffsNotes version of a science fiction feature.

We’re still waiting for the full-length treatment of what seems to be a rock solid genre entry.

The new film, which opened with a respectable $15 million over the weekend, involves a future world in which people live their lives through pleasure-seeking androids.

It’s a neat premise, and who better than Bruce Willis to ground a silly sci-fi thriller?

So why the mad dash toward the final credits?

Willis plays Tom Greer, a cop trying to crack the case of two dead surrogates, robots people buy to live vicariously through. Why risk life and limb, or even rejection on the dating scene, when you can buy a flawless robot facsimile and experience everything it does?

Why, indeed. Most of the people we see in “Surrogates” are actually robots buffed to aesthetic perfection, all the while their human owners stay at home receiving all the stimuli they can safely absorb.

The men are movie-star handsome. The women look as if they just stepped out of a Bally’s commercial. “Surrogates” is like a feature-length CW drama.

It’s a great premise, but the film’s scant 85 minutes can’t be bothered to luxuriate in its own setup.

The surrogates’ short circuiting leads to the death of the people connected to them, something which isn’t supposed to happen. How often do variations of that phrase pop up in modern sci-fi films?

Tom is forced to abandon his own surrogate – complete with blond hair – to solve the crime.

“Surrogates,” directed by respectable action auteur Jonathan Mostow (the great “Breakdown”), moves at an impressive clip and bullies past pedestrian dialogue and questionable plot points. It’s a race to the finish, but Mostow squeezes in a few impressive chases without wasting his leading man’s grizzly appeal.

But why so fast and furious? The best science fiction films, like “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” take their time developing atmosphere and the sly sense that we’ve landed in an entirely new reality.

Here, there’s simply no time for such niceties. We don’t know enough about Tom to care when his life is in jeopardy, and the source of the surrogates themselves (James Cromwell) isn’t fleshed out enough to make the big reveal worth our attention.

Quality science fiction is almost an oxymoron these days, so even a tantalizingly terse one like “Surrogates” is worth a genre fan’s attention.

But oh, what might have been had the story been teased to its proper potential.

(Photo: Bruce Willis plays a gritty cop trying to unravel a futuristic mystery in “Surrogates”/Touchstone)

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Barry Levinson of “Good Morning, Vietnam” fame hasn’t directed a quality film in ages. Robert De Niro needs a role which doesn’t insult his intelligence – or our patience with his greatness.

Both get roughly what they were hoping for from “What Just Happened,” a new Hollywood satire that scorches the industry.

De Niro stars as Ben, a successful film producer facing calamities in both his personal and professional lives. He’s negotiating a painful divorce from his second wife (Robin Wright Penn) and trying to avoid a lawsuit from breaking out over his newest film.

The movie’s star (Bruce Willis, playing a egotistical version of himself) won’t shave his scruffy beard or lose weight for the role, and the financial players insist he play by their rules.

“What Just Happened” delights in detailing the insecurities of both key Hollywood players and the minions who make it all happen. And De Niro’s Ben remains the calm center in a very surreal storm no matter how miserable he becomes. He’s unflappable, but audiences can see his soul slipping away as the story progresses.

That’s why it’s a shame that the final reel itself feels so … soulless. Some problems wrap up in a tidy fashion, others are left to linger in our imaginations, but none resonate the way the film’s best scenes do.

De Niro, his hair longer than we’ve seen it recently, is both virile and hamstrung as Ben, and it’s his best performance in ages.

“What Just Happened” likely won’t attract much attention in theaters. Hollywood satires are hardly box office catnip. But it’s good to know two old pros still have the ability to create movies that can stand near, if not up, to their previous productions.

(Photo: Robert De Niro plays an addled producer looking for a little, ahem, stress relief in “What Just Happened.”)

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