Will Foster (Keanu Reeves) works in a lab located in a remote area of Puerto Rico. He works for Bionyne, a company whose continued funding depends on Foster's work mapping human memories and transferring them to a synthetic brain. He is on test subject 345. Subject 345 rejects the transfer, but makes progress, speaking before losing control. Foster's work takes an intimate turn with the death of his family in an auto accident. Aided by his assistant Ed (Thomas Middleditch), Foster endeavors to map the memories and clone the bodies of his wife (Alice Eve) and children, Sophie (Emily Alyn Lind), Matt (Emjay Anthony) and Zoe (Aria Lyric Leabu). Foster seems ambivalent of the moral dilemmas he has created as his anger and sorrow push him to attempt the impossible. When Foster learns that his work has been funded for a more insidious purpose, everything he has accomplished is placed in jeopardy.
Replicas is an idea that would be conceived by a great mind like Philip K. Dick, but executed by writers Stephen Hamel and Chad St. John, whose best work was probably Peppermint. If you check out that review, you will find that I wasn't impressed by the writing. This film had a great science fiction foundation, but didn't deliver its potential. There were interesting moral dilemmas that were alluded to but not fully explored. The complexity of issues related to the "replicas" were glossed over in favor of easy answers and incredible acceptance. The story felt forced and contrived, attempting to fit an entire miniseries of ideas into a single film rather than doing a few things well. The film had decent pacing, but was a bit sedated at times. I liked the concept but wish this film had been constructed with greater credibility.
Keanu Reeves is awesome as Neo and John Wick. He pretty much sucks in almost any other role that comes to mind. This one is one of his poor performances. I just didn't care for Reeves in this role. It needed someone with better tension. Reeves has shown he can do serious roles well, but he didn't deliver on this one. Middleditch was mediocre as well. I liked Alice Eve as the wife, although I didn't like her character. She was a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable cast. Seriously, Keanu Reeves? Ugh. What a wasted opportunity. I love good science fiction. This missed the mark.
Replicas is rated PG-13 by the MPAA. The film seemed to take care with the content not to slip into R rated territory. It may have been better if it had. The scariest scenes depict needles going into subject's eyes. That was a bit disconcerting. There is also a partial nudity scene where we see a woman's buttocks. It was contextual. Other than that, there is a bit of violence, an auto accident, dead bodies depicted and thematic material. While it sounds like a full slate, it is all done with a light hand to get a favorable rating. This is the type of film that will cause nightmares for kids that are prone to them. It will also make you cringe if you don't like needles in the eyes....mark me down in that category. Run time is one hour, 47 minutes.
Great science fiction is hard to come by. When an interesting concept is conceived, it is disappointing to see it executed poorly. Replicas falls into that category. It could have used a better cast and a script that did less, but did it well. I would have liked to have seen the psychological aspects explored a little bit more deeply as well as the moral dilemma. Instead, we get a tepid, easy-answer film that felt contrived and choppy. It lacked credibility more than it felt credible, which is sad. I would only recommend this for hard core science fiction fans that are interested in seeing something a little bit different. It is still derivative, but mildly engaging. 5.5/10.
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