Movies

‘Replicas’ Trailer: Keanu Reeves Suffers the Consequences of Cloning His Family

I’m thinking they’re back.
By  · Published on October 6th, 2017

I’m thinking they’re back.

Science in movies, groundbreaking and otherworldly it may be, never works the way we want it to. Characters could have the best of intentions, but with conflict and colossal mistakes comes clarity and horror. This is made abundantly clear in the new trailer for Replicas courtesy of New York Comic-Con. Starring Keanu Reeves, Alice Eve and Thomas Middleditch, the film is about a man who attempts to rebuild his family via cloning. Take a look at just how well that goes.

Jeffrey Nachmanoff (writer of The Day After Tomorrow) is bringing some giant existential questions to the big screen with his latest feature, which is still in production, according to Deadline. The trailer opens with Eve taking likely a final (real) deep breath and ends on a shot of Reeves looking pensively into a tank when a hand splays across the glass through the murky water. That’s a rather glaring bookend to the series of events that play out, the question being what it means to be “human.” Flashy effects and sweet scenes of Reeves, Eve and Emjay Anthony — who plays their daughter — hide the dark implication that Reeves’ character is risking everything he has ever known to save his family.

At least in comparison to something like the new Flatliners movie — a film that also deals with bringing the dead back to life but has an abysmally low percentage of approval from critics — Replicas appears to have a lot more going on. In terms of story, this wouldn’t just be some reckless young adults toying with death. The consequences are dire because we’re already made to care about Reeves’ family. Keanu Reeves himself is a giant draw. He’s been having a renaissance of sorts over the last few years as both genre satirist and indulger. Reeves’ brand of sad, mad, and a little tortured has usually served him well, whether he’s making fun of it or being completely serious.

“I love science fiction, I love the Trojan horse of it …all other genres can fit inside science fiction,” Reeves proclaimed while at NYCC discussing Replicas as well as future projects.

Replicas is scheduled for a 2018 release through Entertainment Studios.

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Sheryl Oh often finds herself fascinated (and let's be real, a little obsessed) with actors and their onscreen accomplishments, developing Film School Rejects' Filmographies column as a passion project. She's not very good at Twitter but find her at @sherhorowitz anyway. (She/Her)