Replicas

Discussion in 'SciFi & Fantasy' started by wegs, Feb 17, 2021.

  1. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Recently watched the movie Replicas, starring Keanu Reeves.

    The plot centers around how a scientist (Reeves) loses his family in a car accident (Reeves is the driver), and he'll stop at nothing to ''bring them back.'' As clones of course. You will need to really tap into suspension of disbelief for this film, but it started off well-intentioned. The thing with Keanu Reeves movies - they're either laughably bad or amazingly great. This was ...laughably bad. I really wanted to enjoy it, but when high speed chases start, the rest of the movie is downhill from there. It was kind of like Frankenstein meets Sophie's Choice...but, it really could have been great. I'm all for far-fetched sci-fi dramas, but the problem with this film, it felt like it was trying to manufacture emotion, when all the writers needed to do was hook the audience in with a bit more to go on. You just felt literally nothing for the family when they all die...that sounds vapid I know, but ...it's the writers' job to make me feel something. If they fail at that, it's on them.

    Plot holes all over the place, cringe acting, and the ''science'' wasn't explained well. It jumped around too much, and just when you thought they'd explore the science aspect a bit more, the scene would flit somewhere unrelated. That's it, the film wasn't relatable. Unlike The Shape of Water (which was by far one of my FAVORITE sci-fi movies), it lacked depth, warmth, and character. And a competent writing staff, oof! Sometimes, sci-fi writers think that they can get away with just about anything, simply because they're in the sci-fi genre. Well, they still need to connect the dots somewhat, for the viewer. With this movie, it was quite rushed, boring, and inevitably comical.

    Sci-fi movies need to rest on more than just sci-fi, for me personally. And leave out high speed car chases, please. Those are so utterly stupid, I can't. I won't spoil the ending...because I didn't see it. lol (I just couldn't go on) It was one of those movies where you're like...who came up with this, and why did they go through with it? At least in that fashion, anyway.

    If you've watched this movie, let me know your thoughts. I'm curious if I'm being too harsh.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2021
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  3. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Sounds like a film that was written as a thinker, before some exec came along and said "Needs more explosions and car chases. You can cut out the "chick stuff" to make room."
     
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  5. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Exactly! Plus, the 'science' parts of the movie were supposed to be ''oooohhh'' and ''ahhhh,'' but I was like...huh? As you say, Hollywood took over and made it all look so cheesy. Part of the problem too was that nothing seemed to be happening for minutes at a time. Just wasted time, then they'd rush through a scene as if to make up for that. Awkward scenes with a few side characters who lent nothing to the overall plot.

    You know it's bad acting, when there isn't much difference between the family before it was cloned, and after.

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  7. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    This is the same problem that you get with an interesting subject when the Discover Channel gets hold of it and ruins it with dramatic music...like "Shark Week".
     
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  8. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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  9. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Well, considering that Discovery Channel also airs ''Finding Bigfoot" . . .

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  10. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I tend to stick to YouTube for everything

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  11. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    blair witch shaky camera everyone talking up n down like they are in a constant state of emotional panic ?
    or just flat ?

    lol eeewww !
    high speed car chases is a cheap sell out for sci fi
    it needs to be pod racers or something out of star wars chasing the assassin

    "everybody loves a good car chase" .... ummm ? ... hard pass !
    they remove the single 1 important word "good" & think everything else will make up for it.

    they probably spent all their money on keanu

    after writing this
    i watched half the trailer
    the audio is all F_cked up

    its the artistic director & their style
    they are copying a very fleeting style of movie
    it was not successful outside the one or two types of specific movies which were almost tragedy romantic comedy's of sci fi
    hovering between tomorrow land and the dystopian future AI concepts of apocalypse end of civilization movies.

    ive seen a few movies like that
    mostly all are AI type
    will smiths IR Robot was 1 of the starters
    Species etc is the outliers
    the effects looks really top class
    but the director needs to be changed & the artistic director
    the audio timing & sound and frame cantor is a complete F_ck up

    what they are doing is using sound and frame & scene timing to try and artificially create what the writers have not created
    its an artistic director trying to set up panoramic cinematography to service a need for in-depth character & story building which drives that emotional class of movie into a top class movie

    i can see what you mean weggs
    they butchered what could easily be a very very good movie
    barbarians !
    i love keanu reeves he's awesome
    supporting actor looks very good
    digital cinematography and sets looks amazing!

    but you cant apply a lack of script and back story content for a dystopian feeling of tragedy to create emotional content
    that's complete bullshit !
    F_cken idiots
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2021
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