Review: Replicas
Replicas, the latest film starring Keanu Reeves, who also serves as one of the film's producers, is both aggravatingly mediocre and exceedingly bonkers. There's a skeleton of a story that deals with the moral responsibilities and ethical correctness of science but, whether due to the superficiality of the script, the lacklustre direction or a fairly limited budget, it never reaches any level of intrigue.
Reeves plays Will Foster, a scientist working for an experimental research facility based somewhere in Puerto Rico. His passion project involves accessing the neurological data from the recently deceased and imprinting the data into a synthetic brain; in effect, imbuing an android with human memories. Unfortunately, progress has been slow and troubling - a recent test ended with an android clawing at itself because its human brain couldn't process being trapped inside an android's body - and management in the form of John Ortiz's money-minded Jones all but pulls the plug on the project.
Will decides to go on a sailing weekend with his wife Mona (Alice Eve, severely underutilised) and their three children, but tragedy strikes during a drive in the torrential rain. Desperate but still of sound mind to sense that the turn of events could lead to a scientific breakthrough, he decides to perform the neural transfers on his family with the help of his reluctant colleague (Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch). Except he can only save three of his four loved ones, but it's alright since he can delete the presence of the one he can't save from the memories of those he can. Yet, as Mona pointed out earlier, people are more than mere neurochemistry and Will's playing God is bound to go awry.
Replicas successfully wastes its cast and feels more protracted than its 107-minute running time. Perhaps if it leaned into the ridiculousness of the narrative as it does during its WTF finale, then it might still be terrible and ludicrous but at least it would be somewhat enjoyable.
Replicas
Directed by: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Written by: Chad St. John, Stephen Hamel
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alice Eve, Thomas Middleton, John Ortiz, Emily Alyn Lind, Emjay Anthony
