Replicas

Today’s quick review: Replicas. After his family is killed in a car accident, William Foster (Keanu Reeves), a brilliant scientist, uses memory scans and human cloning to try to bring them back to life. With the help of his colleague Ed Whittle (Thomas Middleditch), Foster successfully creates copies of his wife (Alic Eve) and children (Emjay Anthony and Emily Alyn Lind). But the toughest challenge proves to be hiding the truth from them.

Replicas is a science fiction drama about a scientist’s attempt to conquer death. Devastated by the loss of his family, Foster races to complete his research in time to bring them back. Replicas touches on some interesting questions about the nature of consciousness, the morality of cloning, and what secrets are best kept hidden. However, the movie’s generic plot and shallow treatment of these questions leave something to be desired.

Replicas never settles into a comfortable rhythm. The script feels like an amalgam of three different stories: a noble tale of scientific progress and self-sacrifice, a dark tale of forbidden technology and moral compromise, and the thriller the movie morphs into near the end. Any of these angles by itself could have made for a compelling movie, but the combination of three incompatible tones leaves the movie feeling unfocused.

Otherwise, Replicas is a middle-of-the-road entry into the science fiction genre, with neither groundbreaking ideas nor spectacular failures to set it apart. Foster’s desperate attempts to engineer a solution to his problems are an interesting hook, and the movie introduces a few nice moral quandaries to play with. But Replicas never capitalizes on these strengths, opting for a safe but bland story without a strong identity of its own.

Give Replicas a shot if you’re a dedicated science fiction fan looking for another dose of speculation. Even though Replicas holds few surprises, it goes through the motions well. However, fans who are looking for dark thrills or meaningful drama would be better off looking elsewhere.

For a darker, more far-flung look at the intersection of technology and human consciousness, check out Transcendence. For an action-oriented sci-fi movie that deals with the implications of human cloning, try Gemini Man. For a richer science fiction drama about the unexpected consequences of a scientist’s work, try Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

5.5 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for generic science fiction with mediocre execution.