{"id":1300,"date":"2019-01-11T06:27:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T06:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2022-07-21T15:49:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T15:49:55","slug":"replicas-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/11\/replicas-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Replicas (2019) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Keanu Reeves in Replicas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Replicas<\/em> is one of\nmany recent entries in the science fiction genre that attempts to examine the\nethics behind cloning, artificial intelligence, and blind ambition towards\nscientific progress in general. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that–it\u2019s\nall fascinating subject matter and they are increasingly relevant topics. If it\nhas nothing else going for it, Replicas<\/em>\ndoes happen to boast a pretty great concept at its core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keanu Reeves plays Will, a scientist who is developing a method of transferring all the complexities of the human brain into a synthetic, computerized one. At the film\u2019s beginning, Will is under the gun. Funding is about to be pulled from his research due to the little progress he\u2019s made. He\u2019s also neglecting his loving family\u2014a wife, son, and two daughters. As the film repeatedly reminds us in its opening act, Will is losing sight of what is truly important and meaningful in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tragedy quickly ensues, leaving Will the sole survivor of an\nauto accident that occurred during a full family outing. Luckily, Will just\nhappens to know how to bring them back through the tools of his research. His\ntrusty comedic sidekick (the affable Thomas Middleitch) aides him, sprouting endlessly\nclever moral arguments along the way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DNA taken from the family\u2019s corpses is used to re-grow their bodies. Will then transfers their personalities and memories into the appropriate empty vessels\u2014just like it never happened. The only catch is there isn’t enough material for all of them, and Will has to make the tough decision as to which member of his family he can\u2019t bring back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replicas <\/em>had the potential to do and say a great many things about the shortcomings and downfalls of endless technological advancements. Unfortunately, all of its bigger ideas are glazed over in favor of a predictable formula in which Will and his family have to survive against the heartless money-grubbers (headed by the always great but severely misused John Ortiz) who funded his research. This wouldn\u2019t be such a bad thing if the film gave us any sort of humanity to latch onto with its characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reeves is solid in spite of being miscast, doing his best\nwith what he has to work with. The scenes with his family–which should be the\nheart of the movie–are dull, forced, and verging on painful to watch. Early\non, Will\u2019s wife (played with a constantly-pleasant flatline by Alice Eve)\noh-so-lovingly berates him for not spending enough time with his family.\nUnfortunately, you can\u2019t help but side with Will and wonder why he would would\nwant to put himself through such a seemingly painful chore in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director Jeffrey Nachmanoff presents some (at times) great VFX and some (at other times) rather wooden and unrefined VFX. The action sequences are executed with precision and talent, raising the potential of him helming some notable work in the future. He falters, however, in his dealings with his cast\u2014who appeared to be working either without a net or for a director who was too nice to ask for a second take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nachmanoff\u2019s greatest error is that he favors showing off the technology used to make the film over exploring the ideas of the technology presented within it. He simply puts too much focus on things we\u2019ve already seen in other movies, and not nearly enough on the aspects that would make his audience care about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film\u2019s neatly packaged last act doesn\u2019t fit with the ramifications of its bigger ideas\u2014all of which are lost in the noise of the spectacle it\u2019s trying so hard to be. If you squint, there\u2019s some great stuff in there, but Replicas<\/em> is ultimately a missed opportunity of a movie that doesn\u2019t seem to understand it\u2019s missing the fundamental aspect of any great science fiction story: the human element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRADE: C-<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Replicas is one of many recent entries in the science fiction genre that attempts to examine the ethics behind cloning, artificial intelligence, and blind ambition towards scientific progress in general. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that–it\u2019s all fascinating subject matter and they are increasingly relevant topics. If it has nothing else going for it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3192,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/3192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otherpeoplesmovies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}