Very disappointing...

good back-story, and good acting

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Blistering performances.

Scientists create a genetic clone of a serial killer in order to help catch the killer, teaming up with two cops. Replicant boasts another terrific and strong perfomance from Jean Claude Van Damme and this time? in both sides of the coin. I mean i love the shy and also pretty dangerous clone but i also very much enjoyed the bad psychotic murderer role as well. Michael Rooker was also very good in his role as well. If you enjoyed seeing the double Arnie's from The 6th Day (2000) you're going to love this fast paced action thriller as well.... (10/10)

Not your typical Van Damme star vehicle, nor your typical dumb action movie. Talented director Ringo Lam, who gave us the gritty crime film "City on Fire" and the spectacular tour de force known as "Full Contact" entered the 00's decade with a thoughtful and entertaining sci-fi action film that fared considerably better than the last Van Damme/Lam collaboration "Maximum Risk", a film that succeeded in mood, but little else."Replicant" poses some interesting questions: Who are we and where do we really come from? Can we overcome a horrifying past full of violence and become reborn anew? Ringo Lam and his team of writers managed to make a film that offers something for pretty much everybody; serious sci-fi fans and those who simply want a gritty, violent (but also polished) action flick that blurs the fine line between the old-school and the new-school.Van Damme helps hold it all together, and in terms of acting, he's never been more engaging. As expected, he plays two roles here, that of vicious serial killer Edward Garrotte and the Replicant who is hired by a secret government agency to stop him, who just so happens to be a clone of Edward. They cloned Edward through DNA evidence found at a crime scene. Jake (Michael Rooker) is the one who has to work together with the Replicant to find Edward and put a stop to his vicious crimes. Jake despises the Replicant because he only sees Edward in him, and is smart enough to know that at any moment, the Replicant could snap and Edward's killer instinct might take over. This is because Edward's memories are stored in the Replicant's DNA. Jake is a no-nonsense agent, so he's constantly abusing and belittling the Replicant in the hopes of training him to find and take out Edward before it's too late.There's a lot more going on under the surface, though, as the Replicant is trying to find himself along the way. Edward plays mind games with the Replicant in their confrontations, trying to convince him that they are one in the same. But whereas Edward is a cruel and psychotic killer who gets his kicks burning women alive, the Replicant is like a newborn baby by comparison; full of potential, but ultimately clueless. In one scene, a prostitute invites him up to her apartment for a little one-on-one time. The Replicant, confused and afraid, doesn't understand sexual activity, and in the process, winds up embarrassing himself. The prostitute pops the question, "Is this your first time?" right after calling on her pimp to come take care of this "weirdo". This sub-plot comes full-circle by the end, as the Replicant, finally a free man, goes and finds the prostitute again. Only this time, he's ready.The relationship between Jake and the Replicant is the heart of the film. Jake is like the surrogate father of the Replicant; he's hard on him and gets constantly angry, but only means the best for him. There's a touching scene at the end after Jake kills Edward where, the Replicant and Jake, all bloodied up are essentially in each other's arms as Jake is trying to keep the Replicant conscious. The Replicant looks at Edward's dead body and says, "Jake....my family's gone." Jake then looks at Edward and back at the Replicant, and says, "Hey...hey, he's not your family.....I'm your family. I'm your family, now." It's at that moment where everything just clicks. Two polar opposites, one prejudiced against the other because of his look-a-like. The other, although deadly, brought into a cruel world where he had a choice, succumbs to confusion. If he can't trust someone who looks exactly like him, who can he trust? That's the question that was likely going through his head at the end, as his clone tried to take his life away from him. Throughout the film, he has various memories circling throughout his head, which only adds to his confusion. And we're confused, too, as one of the only things we know about the Replicant is that he likes the rain. An homage to "Blade Runner", perhaps.Believing the Replicant to have died in the explosion at the end of the film, Jake further shows his human side by quitting the agency, which is tragic considering that during the moment before his death, the Replicant realized who his true family is. But Jake soon realizes that it takes a lot more than an explosion to kill a genetically engineered person. That is, unless the Replicant escaped right before the explosion went off in the hospital.Ringo Lam nails the atmosphere of a dark, uncanny future full of death and violence. The film is more polished than his Hong Kong films, yet doesn't entirely lack the grit of them. The action scenes are well staged, not too showy, and still manage to feel very lively in the process. The framing of shots is also professional, never allowing us to miss an important detail, and the film overall looks quite good, especially on Blu-ray. Van Damme nails both characters to a tee, showing malicious intent, and pent-up rage, among other things, in the role of Edward, in a surprisingly subtle way. As the Replicant, he has a couple of campy moments, but is generally believable in such a vulnerable role, where he's essentially playing a child in a man's body, albeit one who is capable of kicking some major ass.Van Damme made two singular films in his career that stand head and shoulders above the rest. One of them was "Knock-Off", a borderline brilliant satire/parody made by another talented Asian director by the name of Hark Tsui. "Replicant" is the other one; a film that could've easily fallen apart in the wrong hands, managed to rise above the limitations of the lead actor and become a poignant and entertaining piece of science fiction that contains just as much heart as it does thrills.

A "genetic double", cloned from the DNA of a serial killer nicknamed Torch(..for how he burns the female corpses of mommies who resemble the horrible maternal figure who abused him as a child), will be used to track him down, partnered up with disgruntled ex-cop Jake(Michael Rooker). Jake has been after Garrotte for so long, it has developed into an obsession that wrecked his marriage with cop Angie(Catherine Dent). The chase is on but will Jake be able to babysit this clone, whose an infant to the world around him, and succeed in his mission to capture Torch once and for all? Can the replicant be trusted, since he is, after all, a "brother", in a sense, to Torch? Collaberating with director Ringo Lam once again, Jean-Claude Van Damme actually has here one of his better Post-Time Cop movies, starring in dual roles, as both a vicious psycho and essentially a child responding to a brand new world alien to him. And, I'll be damned if he doesn't pull it off! Torch is easily one of JCVD's most sadistic characters, pummeling women and men alike, no conscience or humanity, just a nasty, cold-blooded killer who stares down anyone who in his path, superkicking them out of his way. JCVD, as the replicant, however, is a polar opposite to Torch, an innocent drug about, mostly by handcuffs, like a houndog by a monumentally angry Rooker. Rooker is on edge the entire film, a short fuse with one goal in mind and that's to find and kill Torch. JCVD's replicant is often victimized by Rooker because he's a direct image of the man he's pursued for a long period of time. As you'd expect, Rooker grows fond of the replicant and eventually the showdowns commence. JCVD uses a lot of stunt doubles in this movie because Ringo Lam stages several incredible set-pieces which demand dangerous stunts. While JCVD doesn't really emote when portraying Garrotte, he really doesn't have to because as this killer, he physically destroys innocent people in vast quantities(..particularly during the finale in the hospital)..you hate him for his violent conduct towards others alone. The scene certain to raise eyebrows will be when Rooker "strip searches" JCVD's replicant for a properly placed tracking device. When you compare Replicant to the host of direct-to-video actioners JCVD has put out recently, it isn't so bad. Does it cover new terrain? The science-fiction angle regarding cloning aside, no, not really. But, it moves relatively well and there's enough thrilling set-pieces to maintain interest, I think, and seeing JCVD in a different kind of film besides those aping Kickboxer and Lionheart is refreshing. Set in Seattle, this is a location I enjoyed quite a bit. I think JCVD fans will enjoy this one along with non-discriminating action fans. Torch's handiwork is rather shocking.

Replicant is set in Seattle where over the past three years a serial killer known as the Torch (Jean-Claude Van Damme) has murdered eleven people, cop Jake Riley (Michael Rooker) has been trying to catch him but thus far has failed. The day of Jake's retirement comes & he hangs up his badge with the Torch still at large, however Jake is contacted by National Security Federation boss Satn Reisman (Ian Robison) who wants Jake to work for them & that they can help him catch the Torch. Jake agrees & it is revealed that the NSF have created an exact clone, or replicant (according to the IMDb's automatic spell-check the word 'replicant' isn't actually a word at all...) as they like to call it, of the Torch taken from an extract of his DNA from a hair strand at a crime scene. The NSF hand the replica over to Jake in an attempt to use his genetic memory inherited from the Torch to track him down...Directed by Hong Kong action film maker Ringo Lam this was his second Hollywood made film after another JCVD vehicle Maximum Risk (1996) & to date his only other two Hollywood films have also starred JCVD in In Hell (2003) & Wake of Death (2004), I have to say that Replicant is actually a fairly intelligent sci-fi action flick although it's not perfect. The script by Larry Wiggins & Les Weldon has a fairly emotive & relevant issue at it's core with both the moral & ethical dilemmas surrounding human cloning touched upon. Replicant doesn't just use the notion of cloning as an excuse for lots of action as it really does try to approach the issue in a somewhat grown up way. The whole idea of how a clone should be treated & the line 'if you treat someone like a criminal expect them to behave like one' is a very obvious allusion to the way we treat each other, the themes of the relationship between the clone & the person who has been cloned is raised as is whether they would share the same memories or feelings or thoughts. In the end it doesn't amount to much but at least Replicant tries to say something & have some sort of message which is a lot more than most straight-to-DVD action films attempt. Of course it's not all good news, the action scenes are a little too low key & infrequent for my liking & despite trying to present cloning in a semi serious light I don't see how a clone can have the memories from the person used to create it yet alone some sort of telepathic link. At over 100 minutes I think it goes on for a bit too long as well with an alarming amount of time between action set-pieces.Director Lam does a decent job, there's not much style here & it's a little bit flat & bland. In fact it feels like a made-for-telly film at times. The special effects are good & the action scenes are well choreographed. The fights are good, there's some explosions & an impressive sequence of an ambulance speeding through a car park crashing into other cars & the like. The violence is strong but not graphic. You know call me odd but I actually quite like JCVD, while the likes of Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Mark Dacascos, Dolph Lundgren & Wesley Snipes are content to churn out horrible low budget action films JCVD at least tries & his films are usually much better than those as well with the interesting if not totally successful Replicant a good example.According to the IMDb this had a budget of $17,000,000 which is total crap, in fact I believe it was $7,000,000 so I guessed someone pressed the '1' button by mistake somewhere along the line! It's well made for sure, although set in Seattle it was shot in British Columbia in Canada. The acting is pretty good, JCVD plays a dual role again as both the bad guy & his clone. Michael Rooker is decent as the burnt out cynical cop while there is no one else of any note in the cast.Replicant is a film which tries to be different, it tries to take a relevant issue & do something with it & it almost pulls it off. A couple more 'big' action moments & Replicant could have been great, as it is it's definitely good but not great.