Overrated

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Rarely can I not figure out what a movie is at least attempting to say, and I don't have a problem with "art" films, either. For example, I really enjoyed Under the Skin--a little hard to figure out, but enough there to create meaning. On the other hand, Identicals was a blissful acid trip, often shifting unexpectedly, long drawn out shots doing little other than spinning wheels, and repetition and overlap that did nothing but confuse. And confuse it did.People appear out of nowhere with little explanation, threats are made to the main characters with little cause, and then there's an organization that appears to want to control some element of society, but we never know exactly who they are or their motivation. And then the end comes and ..... Nada.If not the worst movie I've ever seen, certainly a top five worst- ever candidate. Were there any positives? Actually, I think there is potential here for visually the film was captivating, and if there was more logic and sense tied into the plot (if you can call it that), there is a good foundation to work with. It's not a complete wash but close.

So Writer/Director of "Identicals" Simon Pummell. You've presented us with a perverse perception of a dastardly dystopian society. But what precisely do you mean to say with your sad and sullen story? And Cinematographer Reinier Van Brummelen. Your images are gorgeous. Breathtaking even. Yet what are we supposed to collectively draw from them? "Identicals" is the example-deluxe of a film that is staggeringly saturated with style and chic. And co-leads Nora-Jane No one ("Brooklyn") and Lachlan Nieboer ("Charlie Countryman") are scarcely a chore to ogle. However, when flair and flamboyance is evidently all you've got to dispense, we are rendered pulverized by a prevalence of pointless panache over substance.Only in the case of the slick but ill-conceived "Identicals", it is much more a matter of style at the almost absolute ANNIHILATION of substance.

I watched it to the end hoping for some plot to emerge and validate the movies 7.3 IMDb rating, nothing happened, so save yourself the pain.The 'sound effects' begged me to turn it off within the first two minutes, various high pitch tones that continue throughout the film. No plot. I don't know what to say about the acting. The CGI and every part of the imagery is just nauseating. I've never felt the need to write a review before this, the IMDb rating really effed me here though. All trust in this rating system is lost. DON'T WATCH, DO ANYTHING ELSE.

I completely understand the frustration and the sense of feeling lost most people have experienced with this film. It is not going to be everybody's cup of tea and I would almost dare say this is a film made for a film student to analyze. Identicals, not very aptly titled, is like a slow hand that keeps testing your borders as a viewer with its sensual cinematography and a very intense focused story-line that plays away from the usual action based plot lines, but rather becomes a cat and mouse of reactions. It sits very difficult from a psychological point of view since it uses very subtle nuances in film making to keep the viewer feeling uncomfortable and I think this discomfort has probably been experienced by many to be "boredom". We are uncertain throughout who is the cat and who is the mouse while the story unfolds and the two main players keep pushing back and forth testing boundaries and trying to find each other's " you" factor. It is The Nines (2007) meets Melancholia (2011) meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Far from perfect, I felt that this was a story that could have either be told as a short film in 30 minutes or that left a lot of room for additional story creation, yet at the same time's it's slow pace and sad melancholy allows for the very deep complex and delicate themes to work its way down and make it a little bit easier to ease into it. Bottom-line is that here we have a C-story-line that is being told as an A-story-line with all the emotional subtleties and the quiet/slow timing that a C-story-line require. Definitely an existential film that questions the process of reinvention of the self and the how much control you have given the influence of external factors (including your own addictions – aka addiction to another person) and co-dependency on a certain reality that you have come to depend upon as "real". The film's biggest flaw is that it was classified as a Science Fiction rather than Experimental or Surreal. While watching I was reminded of the firs translation I ever read of Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which has been seen as the first Science Fiction novel ever written. Also, similar to this film, it lacked a definitely story definition, but rather presented the "experience of" a certain journey. I would, for myself, give this film an 9 star rating, but down this to 7, because I think that in presentation, it does not allow itself to reach as wide an audience as it could.