Project-Blu Replicant, by M. Enois Duarte

Replicant

By: M. Enois Duarte, 9.8.2009

The Movie Itself:
It's funny how one film can change a person's perspective or opinion about another movie or a particular actor. After watching JCVD, my view of Jean-Claude Van Damme was altered somewhat to include the man behind the reputation, an individual with his own thoughts and estimation on his notoriety and infamy. It offers a startlingly explicit glimpse of a person drained and weary for being celebrated and regarded, even humiliated, as a one-dimensional actor. Basically, the popular martial arts star has been greeted with typecast roles and relegated to wandering in limbo for direct-to-video action flicks --- the mark of death from which rarely, if ever, an actor returns. Looking back at his previous work, they don't seem quite the same.

Replicant is one such movie release with too many flaws to be entertaining. It's another of his features made exclusively for home viewing. What I found most surprising, and a bit ashamed of, was my reaction to the movie. I was actually disappointed not as much by the horrific concept and the slow-paced direction as by the lack of action typical and expected of the Van Damme label. Sucked in by my own folly, the movie is in short supply of roundhouse kicks, headbutts, and all sorts of other karate moves we look forward to in a "The Muscles from Brussels" picture. It plays out more like a sci-fi thriller than anything else, and one in which Van Damme attempts to flex his acting chops (in dual roles) rather than his athletic physique.

The movie opens with the murder of a young woman by a serial killer nicknamed "The Torch" (Van Damme) for his penchant of killing young mothers and setting them on fire. Sporting long, greasy hair, he's terrified the city of Seattle for three years and pursued by the persistent detective Jake Riley (Michael Rooker). Days after his retirement from the force, Riley is phoned by the crazed killer, promising to continue with his violence. A secret government agency then contacts Riley to assist on a highly controversial procedure to bring an end to his reign of terror. Using DNA samples, a clone referred to as Replicant (Van Damme) is made to follow and predict The Torch's every move, to apprehend the very person who made his existence possible.

Though not entirely unwatchable, most of Replicant's failure, other than stealing its title from the higher-quality Blade Runner, lies in its lack of experimentation. The narrative simply doesn't bother with taking any risks in explaining the pseudo-science behind the bizarre concept of cloning a serial killer. Instead, everything is taken as self-evident and just because the secret government agency says that they can and have done it. Period. Then, we move along to a cat-and-mouse chase that's neither clever nor worthwhile. And yet, it tries the viewer's patience with two hard-driven characters, Riley and The Torch, which presumably have a long standing relationship, but never attempt to win the audience over one way or the other.

With so many gaps and holes in the script, the movie simply feels long-winded and verbose as we watch a mean-spirited detective develop an exasperating friendship with his replicant, which is pretty obvious five minutes into their first meeting each other. The direction is equally wearisome and greatly missing a sense of excitement in a sci-fi flick meant to be both action-packed and thrilling. Seems the only real positive in this mess is JCVD, in two opposing roles, displaying a hint, possibly even a hope, of being recognized for other than his high-flying kicks. Sadly, this isn't the movie in which to demonstrate those hidden talents and will merely continue to stereotype the real man behind the notoriety.
Rating: 4/10

The Presentation:
Lionsgate releases Replicant with a very satisfying AVC-encoded transfer, cropped from an OAR 1.85:1 to a 1.78:1 window, but not one of the sharpest catalog titles we've seen. The picture is clean and displays fairly strong colors with decent hues in skin tones. Problem is they lack some brilliance and the sort of splendor one would expect of hi-def video. Brightness and contrast are slightly above average with adequate clarity, and producing a mostly flat image with some odd blooming of the whites. Indoor scenes with poor lighting receive the worst end of the bargain, as shadows come off a bit too strong and blacks appear a tad crushed. Fine objects details are far from superb, but the movie on Blu-ray is a clear improvement from standard definition.
Rating: 6.8/10

Not too surprising, the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack included on the disc is superior to the picture and much more involving. But in spite of that, the original sound elements are clearly limited and undecidedly impressive. Although dialogue is clear and intelligible, the voices of actors are not very compelling and lack some luster, sounding as if recorded in post-production. For a movie of this caliber, the mix is unexpectedly active with many atmospheric effects employed in the background. Unfortunately, they're not very convincing and delivered with noticeable precision and artificiality. The track also lacks movement between the channels in the fronts and rears during action sequences, dynamic range is quite narrow and confined, and bass is in use but never attains the lower frequencies. Overall, it's not bad, but it's not great either.
Rating: 7.4/10

Overall Presentation: 7/10

** 9 - 10 = Reference / 8 = Excellent / 7 = Good /
6 = Satisfactory / 5 = Average / 4 & under = Below Average **

The Extras:
As far as bonus features goes, it's a surprise Lionsgate was able to find anything at all to put together. The package is decent enough, but nothing exciting either.

Audio Commentary
Jean-Claude Van Damme sits with his costar Michael Rooker for this commentary track.
Deleted Scenes (SD, 20 min)
These selections of omissions are rather boring and wisely removed from the final print.
Storyboards (HD)
Exactly as it sounds and not much else.
Photo Gallery (HD)
This collection of stills is of the props used for representing The Torch's burnt victims.
Bookmarks
Interactive feature for Blu-ray allowing fans to reference their favorite scenes.
Also from Lionsgate (HD)
Only one red-band preview for Punisher: War Zone.

Rating: 4/10

Final Thoughts:
One of many direct-to-video action flicks from Jean-Claude Van Damme, Replicant clearly shows it low-budget origins with a weak script and poor direction. On the bright side, the martial arts star displays a wider acting range, which will not likely win him a seat back at the top. But at least, he's trying. The Blu-ray edition of the sci-fi thriller arrives with a good A/V presentation and a decent package of supplements. In spite of that, this is really only for the fans.
Rating: 5/10