Replicating Disaster

While a movie may be absurd, nonsensical, and overall awful, that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. The 2018 Keanu Reeves flick Replicas is an example of how even a thriller with a 9% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes can still be worth two hours of your time. Replica’s surprising watchability due to the fact that all of its characters are downright, brain dead morons. 

That means that while Replicas was created as a mystery/thriller, it is far more satisfying if you look at it as a comedy. It makes you think even when its protagonists don’t. In his role as synthetic biologist Will Foster, Reeves comes across like his John Wick character–a man of few words, intense training, and tough looks. In every scene, Reeves has this fish-out-of-water look about him that kills any emotional tension. It’s really the funniest thing about the movie, and without it, this film would be an absolute dumpster fire with no redeeming qualities.

The plot follows Will in his journey to clone his family after all of them die in a car crash. While this sounds far-fetched yet potentially intriguing on paper, our senseless protagonist makes some of the worst decisions to do so. He is a scientist working for an advanced corporation that specializes in turning people into robots and cloning people. And yes, the rest of the movie is equally dumb. 

So naturally, Reeve’s brilliant scientist decides to steal the equipment and set it up in his basement to clone his dead family. Sure, no one at the company would notice that–oh wait, they finally do, and then teachers show up asking about missing kids, and eventualy the police show up asking about the 30 missing car batteries Will stole to power the cloning devices. Overall, Will’s main attribute is that he’s a genius, yet he makes the absolute worst decisions one could make in his position. Every decision he makes seems rushed into with little thought involved, just like the script.

In all seriousness, this is an absolutely terrible film that has no business being a sci-fi action thriller. However, its sheer stupidity and will to take itself seriously makes it unintentionally funny. And in my opinion, that’s the best kind of comedy. Replicas can be either a great laugh with some friends or the worst garbage you’ve ever seen, it just depends on your mood. But if you’re a Keanu Reeves fan willing to overlook anything for your idol, or if you love to make fun of bad movies, you’ve come to the right place. Under those circumstances, I rate Replicas an 8 out of 10 based on the fact it made me and friends watching laugh until we cried.