Replicas

When man plays God, all hell breaks loose.

Having headlined in one of the all-time biggest science fiction franchises in cinematic history, Keanu Reeves has since emerged with a penchant for nabbing roles in similarly styled genre fare. In the latest Blu-ray release, "Replicas," Reeves plays a leading neuroscientist, William Foster about to make a cybernetic breakthrough: The transfer of a recently-deceased human consciousness into a robot body. The good doctor's latest experiment showed great promise until it didn't.

Foster has developed a means by which to transfer the memory engrams of a dead man into a portable hard drive, and then boot the pattern into a cybernetic body. The process appears a proven success until the disoriented "robot" begins to panic and tears itself apart. With so much riding on the success of his science, Foster is under a lot of pressure to succeed. If his theory doesn't show fruit, the organization that is funding his project will pull the plug. With his recent failure still fresh on his mind, William decides he needs to take his family away for the weekend.

While on their way to a weekend boating expedition the family runs afoul of some bad weather and gets run off the road. William is the only survivor, and his wife and three children all die in the crash. Desperate to save his family, William recruits his lab partner, played by Thomas Middleditch, to help him clone his family and transfer their memory engrams – all but his youngest daughter. Foster has resurrected his family, but when the organization he's working for discovers what he's done they insist the replicas are their property and want William to turn them over.

"Replicas" does not veer too far from the unexpected; it's Frankenstein's Monster all over again, with a tinge of "Jurassic Park" and "I, Robot" tossed in for good measure. In fact, "Replicas" is so much like so many films we've seen already, there's very little to get it to spark as interesting. Keanu Reeves is unfortunately not engaging enough to keep this sci-fi thriller above water either. Reeves is hardly believable as a neuroscientist, and when it all starts to fall apart he's hardly able to emote in a manner that makes the repercussions of what he's done viable.

The most interesting actor in the ensemble is Alice Eve, who portrays William's wife, Mona Foster. As a replica, she proves in spades that AI intelligence have depth. Reeves is a co-producer on this project and partnered with director Jeffrey Nachmanoff to bring "Replicas" to life. The Blu-ray includes audio commentary from the filmmakers, a making-of featurette and several deleted scenes. At its core, "Replicas" is a film about family; it's not a bullet-proof action flick, but glimpses an inevitability in science that may be fiction today, but all too close to reality.

"Replicas"
Blu-ray and DVD
$24.99
https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/replicas