Ryan Shoots First: Replicant
It’s The Best Van Damme Week Ever here at Bulletproof Action and it is a testament to Van Damme’s career as one of the most famous action stars that even after multiple week long celebrations over the years, that there are still JCVD movies we have not covered.
Today I am taking the task of covering the 2001 film Replicant. In it Jean-Claude plays dual roles, one a ruthless serial killer who stays one step ahead of the cops led by Michael Rooker’s Detective Jake Riley. The other character JCVD plays is the genetically engineered clone of the serial killer! That’s right it’s a little bit Face/Off and a little bit Silence of the Lambs.
After Rooker’s character botches a chance to catch the killer named “The Torch” in a bus by handling it in just about the worst way imaginable the two have a great encounter in a parking garage. Cause as you know in the BPA code is that nothing good happens in a parking garage. I don’t know if it was CGI or the craziest stunt man in movie history but there are two near misses with the car driven by Torch almost killing Jake and they look really close to being disastrous. Anyway after the episode we find out Jake has decided to retire but after initially turning down a job offer from the NSF he decides to join up after Torch ruins his retirement party with a taunting phone call. Shortly after joining up he is introduced to the birth pod for the clone and I love this scene cause Jake just takes it all in stride. He is shown this adult sized growth chamber with an adult human body in there and is just like “so you cloned him”. Cause you know in 2001 cloning people was like getting lasik or something. After the Replicant comes out doing his best Neo from the Matrix impersonation (it was 2001) he gets a quick tutorial on sitting and standing and is good to go. It turns out the clone is not just a clone physically but can also share memories if presented with the right stimulus. JCVD has some pretty awkward scenes as he bumbles around largely mute and playing his best “Bambi on Ice”.
If I didn’t know any better I would think Michael Rooker secretly had a beef with JCVD and behind the scenes backed this movie so he could rough up, demoralize and generally abuse JCVD with him having no recourse. As you can imagine eventually Jake begins to see him as an asset and realizes maybe criminals are a product of their environment. So the buddies team up to take down Seattle’s most notorious serial killer. Jake even lets him ride in the front seat eventually! I always enjoy action movies that take a bonkers sci-fi premise but really never go into the details or ramifications of what it is doing. Like you create these clones, what happens after you catch the terrorist or killer? Do they get to just live a life? Do they get put to pasture? Are they considered human? Also the fact they share some memories and experiences with these bad people. Are they concerned they will also become killers and terrorists? Can you punish someone for a crime they may commit? So many questions unanswered.
Anyway back to the film. Eventually the Replicant which is never really given a name must choose to be like his copy or help Jake and he decides torch “is bad boy”. Luckily the ending conveniently wraps up that whole “what to do with the clones” thing after the work is done (or so you think!). Replicant is an interesting premise and the execution while sometimes a little cheesy isn’t excruciatingly cringy. I am not convinced it takes full advantage of JCVD and his skill set and largely seems to revolve around Michael Rooker’s angry Jake. Perhaps someone needs to offer Jake a chocolate pretzel (for you Mallrats fans).
All in all my favorite point of the movie may be the still shot used for the credits at the very end. If for no other reason than why the filmmakers chose it as the one they used. It’s Jake leading a bewildered looking Replicant through a gate… Again I’m convinced Michael Rooker had something to do with this, taking out a secret vendetta he had on Jean-Claude Van Damme.
