Replicas Parent Guide

William Foster (Keanu Reeves), a talented researcher in a biotechnology company called Bionyne, is trying to implant a human consciousness into a robot. With the help of colleague Ed Whittle (Thomas Middleditch), he comes close, but the consciousness always seems to reject the synthetic body. After one failure too many, Ed loans William his boat for a family weekend getaway. However, on the way to the marina the family gets caught in a terrible storm and William crashes the car. When he comes to, he finds that his wife, Mona (Alice Eve) and their children Matt, Sophie, and Zoe (Emjay Anthony, Emily Alyn Lind, and Aira Leabu) have all been killed in the wreck. In his grief, he turns to Ed, and coaxes him into helping him implant the consciousnesses of his family members into the cloned bodies. But, as Ed points out, human cloning is illegal, and even if it wasn’t, no one has have successfully done it. Will William be able to bring his family back to life? And if so, at what cost?

Replicas is certainly making a bold move by addressing such a controversial issue, and to its credit, the film devotes a fair bit of dialogue to discussing the objections to human cloning and transhumanism. But, like in every other Frankenstein story, the characters then ignore both ethics and sense and race full steam ahead into scientifically and philosophically muddy waters. Unfortunately, Replicas doesn’t seem to have the screenwriting or directing chops to make any of this plausible. While some dialogue is interesting and thought-provoking, most of it is awkward and uncomfortable. Character motivations are clear but sadly two dimensional, and many interpersonal conflicts seem to just vanish without significant attempt to address them beyond bringing them up in the first place. On the effects end of things, the computer-generated assets are downright goofy. With a hard-to-swallow plot and many technical flaws, Replicas isn’t a good movie by any definition.

In terms of content, parents have little to be concerned about except for some profanity and violence. Regarding the latter, violence on the part of the main characters is usually either accidental or defensive. Really, the most disturbing thing in the film is the cavalier attitude of most characters to established professional ethics and scientific procedure.

Replicas is not a great film in its own right, but it can serve as gateway to better films and a more substantive discussions of ethics. That said, if you enjoy bad films, you could definitely give Replicas a look. It’s kind of fun in its own way, and short enough that the pacing chugs along at a good clip. Added to which, since leading man Keanu Reeves was discovered to be secretly funding children’s hospitals (when he isn’t giving up his seat to strangers on the subway), you can rest assured that at least part of your ticket cost will be going to a good cause.