Identicals

I try and give low-budget sci-fi films more leeway to see without costly special effects if some nuggets of cleverness or originality can be found. Unfortunately, what I saw here came across as way too murky, obtuse, and nonsensical, for my tastes.

Told in a slow-paced and surrealistic manner, the story, from what I could garner, revolves around a nefarious and mysterious company, called Brand New-U, that apparently abducts or beats people into submission, to take them to their headquarters. Once there, they are transformed into a new version of themselves (or identical) via a type of hypnosis, brainwashing, and surgery. For what exact purpose this is done never really became clear to me, but there is a mention of rich benefactors of the corporation who believe a better human being can emerge. Huh?

The two stars of the movie have good screen presence but their talents, in my opinion, can't be realized within this dense plot. Simon Pummell handles the writing and direction, and just what he had in mind escapes me, I'm sorry to say.

All in all, this sci-fi flick didn't work for me at any level, and I would recommend not to waste your time here with this one.

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.

In the near future, a couple have a romantic evening destroyed when a swat team visit them in the night and forcibly abduct the woman. The man is left alone but discovers that one of the attackers inexplicably has his girlfriend's face. This leads him to a high-tech company called Brand New-U.

This psychological sci-fi film deals with ideas of identity. It's not in all honesty always easy keeping track of what is going on as doppelgangers interact with each other and things get a little confusing, so it is a film that could potentially improve on a second viewing. The first impression, however, is a film that looks very beautiful at times but which is on the whole rather cold and unengaging. The central relationship is very important to the film as it underpins everything, yet we never get very involved with the characters meaning it is difficult caring much about their plights. The somewhat deliberate slow-pacing doesn't necessarily help very much either, with some scenes playing out far too long. But as I said, it is visually very beautiful at times with some great use of colour. So it has this on its side, while there does seem to be some interesting elements working their way in the background. But it was all a little too ponderously told for my personal liking.

This movie opens with the camera stationary on the female leads face while she repeats the same two lines of dialogue over and over. I should have realised from this patience testing opening that I wasn't going to enjoy this film.

This movie is painfully slow. It looks nice and stylish and the acting is pretty solid but the story isn't really saying anything. I kept telling myself something interesting was surely going to happen but it never did. It does't even have a point, I thought it might be trying to say something about love or soulmates or how you have to make the most of the hand your dealt but no. It's meaningless style over substance and boredom fully lording it up over that style.

Maybe I missed the point but to be honest I don't care I won't be watching this again.

I could only stomach 10 min of the pointless, seemingly randomly generated sequence of unrelated images that this nonsensical movie is. This movie is so terrible that a negative rating should be created just for it, exclusively. There is absolutely no logical reason why someone in their right mind, not under the effects of hallucinogenic substances, should give a rating over 1. Avoid at all costs.