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.

At best this is a 3/10. IMDb is not reliable when it comes to the user ratings for the first couple of months or more as most people know, to see 1000's of people giving this movie a 9,10/10 rating is sickening! Do the film makers pay people for the score or is it the whole cast and crew giving the 10/10 lol. Please stop! it makes you look even worse.

Avoid this movie and save your time for something more worthwhile, like a walk to the shops or some gardening.

How on earth can this crapfest be currently averaging 7.3/10?

Seriously, IMDb's reputation is damaged beyond repair if garbage like this achieves such a high score, causing those who still trust the site to waste their time and money sitting through such an inane and pointless excuse of a movie.

So the production team summoned all their friends and relatives, urging them to clog IMDb with their 10/10 ratings, betraying those of us who actually care about honest recommendations.

Gaming the system this way is only hurting the art of cinematography.

Pathetic.

There are no redeeming qualities about this movie. I thought that the premise sounded intriguing but I found it confusing. and boring. I kept waiting for something good to catch my interest which never happened. The characters are hard to follow and have no depth. I couldn't figure out their motivation. The roles are confusing and I am not sure I even understood the plot as it was so poorly defined. I couldn't figure out if the characters were trapped in some sort of alternate world or if it was based on a very strange world in general. I'm not sure I even understood the ending. It was by far the worst movie I've seen this year.

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.