The Keanu Reeves Sci-Fi Thriller On Netflix That No One Remembers
These days, Keanu Reeves is known to be a high-octane action lead in films such as the John Wick franchise, as well as a sci-fi icon with a leading role in the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077. Despite Reeves’ status as a beloved performer, some of his films still seem to completely fly under the radar. One such example comes in the form of 2018’s Replicas, which is available to stream on Netflix now.
Replicas, starring Keanu Reeves, is streaming right now on Netflix.
Replicas, by all metrics, should have been a massive hit. Arriving on the scene in between other massive Keanu Reeves projects such as John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Replicas somehow became swept under the rug. The film also stars Iron Fist‘s Alice Eve, The Cloverfield Paradox‘s John Ortiz, and Thomas Middleditch, directly in the middle of his illustrious run leading the hit HBO series Silicon Valley, which ran from 2014 until 2020.
Unfortunately, the incredible star power of Keanu Reeves and company wasn’t enough to save the film from its fate. Replicas received largely negative reviews, mostly focussed on the film’s writing, poor CGI, and stiff performances.
Replicas follows Keanu Reeves and Thomas Middleditch as biomedical researchers William Foster and Ed Whittle, respectively, who work for a mysterious company which seeks to transfer the human mind into a new host body.
The film is largely considered to be a box office bomb, bringing in only $9.3 million at the worldwide box office against an estimated production budget of over $30 million, with an additional $10.5 million in advertising budget.
Replicas follows Keanu Reeves and Thomas Middleditch as biomedical researchers William Foster and Ed Whittle, respectively, who work for a mysterious company which seeks to transfer the human mind into a new host body.
Their journey begins by trying to place the mind of a dead soldier into a robot with incredible physical strength, in order to inhibit cloning abilities for military applications. After an initially successful trial, proving the technology is possible, the soldier awakens horrified in his robotic vessel, killing himself instantly.
Keanu Reeves’ character then suffers a horrible tragedy as his entire family is killed in a boating accident, causing him unspeakable grief. Under threats to shut down the project unless they can craft meaningful results, Reeves convinces Ed Whittle to assist him in cloning his wife and three children into the bodies of robots back at the lab. Unfortunately, only three android bodies are available, leaving the scientists to delete the mind of the youngest child.
Keanu Reeves’ upcoming roster includes the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, labelled Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, as well as a sequel to 2005’s Constantine, and the John Wick spinoff Ballerina.
This creates a series of rapidly compounding complications for the researchers, as the team must then erase any memory of the youngest child from the minds of the rest of the family. Furthermore, the team encounter a critical error which causes the android hosts to age at an abnormally rapid rate, causing Keanu Reeves and Middleditch to go to great lengths to prevent the minds from aging into dementia and eventual death.
From there, things continue to fall apart, as the experiment proves to be too difficult, too complicated, and too costly to complete. Furthermore, Keanu Reeves fails to appropriately delete and remove traces of his youngest child’s existence, resulting in the mind-body interface of his resurrected loved ones facing unceasing grief. When the United States government pursues the scientists for their failure to create a military weapon, the project falls apart entirely, resulting in a high intensity chase.
Despite the critical and financial failure of Replicas, Keanu Reeves’ career continued seamlessly. Just one year later, audiences saw the release of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which swept the box office with a massive $327 million return, and paving the way for a series of Reeves leading performances and cameo appearances to follow.
Keanu Reeves’ upcoming roster includes the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, labelled Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, as well as a sequel to 2005’s Constantine, and the John Wick spinoff Ballerina.
Though critics and audiences alike were harsh on Replicas, the film is available to stream on Netflix now. If you’re feeling enamored with a lack of content as a result of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, you can take the opportunity to watch the film and form your own opinion, or lampoon the writing in the form of a drinking game with your friends.
