Replicant Information

Replicant is a 2001 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Ringo Lam, starring Michael Rooker and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It is set online in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the second collaboration between Van Damme and Hong Kong filmmaker Ringo Lam.

Plot

Edward "The Torch" Garrotte (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a serial killer who has a penchant for killing women and then setting them on fire. Another pattern to his murders is the fact that the women are all mothers. Jake Riley (Michael Rooker) is a Seattle police detective who has spent three years trying to stop Garrotte. Just days before Jake's retirement, Garrotte strikes again, but Jake is off the case. During his retirement party, Jake receives a call from Garrotte, who threatens to go after his friends and family. Realizing he has gone too far, he sets out to stop him.

A secret government agency hires Jake as a consultant on a project they have been working on. They have cloned Garrotte from evidence found at a crime scene, and need Jake to help train this replicant (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who has some genetic memories from Garrotte, plus a telepathic link with him, but is like a newborn in many other respects. The Replicant has the body of a forty-year-old, but the mind of a child. Jake's job is to help use the Replicant to track Garrotte down by using the memories stored in Garrotte's DNA.

As the Replicant and Jake work to track Garrotte down, tension is constant. Jake feels that the Replicant could turn on him at any moment, as Garrotte's killer instinct may take over and dictate the Replicant's tendencies. The Replicant tries to understand the world and life. He tries to understand his connection with Garrotte. The replicant also tries to understand why Jake treats him so roughly. As they work together, the Replicant views Jake as either a friend or as family. Though Jake is abusive toward him, the Replicant looks to him for protection and guidance as the two close in on finding Garrotte and stopping him once and for all. Garrotte and the Replicant confront each other in a bar after Garrotte fails to kill Jake with a bomb in his apartment. Garrotte kills a bartender, but lets the Replicant live. They confront each other once again in a parking garage in a hotel. Garrotte tries to convince his "brother" that Jake cannot be trusted. Frustrated that Garrotte got away, Jake wonders why the Replicant let him go. The Replicant says to Jake, "We are the same." The replicant finds out Garrotte's real name: Luc Sevard. They go to the hospital to talk with Garrotte (Sevard's) mother, but she had died of a heart attack the night before. Garrotte wants his "brother" to join him by killing Jake, but he refuses. Jake and the killer get into a fight, leading to an Ambulance chase in the parking garage. The van crashes, but the killer escapes. He hits Jake with a shovel, and plans to burn him alive.

The film ends when the Replicant and the killer get into a fight in a furnace in the hospital. After the fight, the Replicant wants to kill Garrotte, in order to bring his mother back, but realizes that he is about to make the biggest mistake of his life. The killer hits the Replicant over the head with a shovel, which causes Jake to shoot him six times. Thinking that his "family" is gone, the Replicant knows that Jake is family now. An air conditioner, which was damaged during the fight, causes an explosion that kills the Replicant after he gets Jake out of the room. Upset by the death of his new "partner", Jake decides to retire from the force, as well as his job as a consultant.

A few weeks later, Jake now has a wife and stepson, until he sees a man in a raincoat put a package in their mailbox. Jake now knows that the Replicant is alive when they receive a music box as a gift of thanks. Jakes says to Danny that "he likes rain." The Replicant decides to start a new life with a prostitute he saved earlier in the film.

Cast

• Jean-Claude Van Damme - The Replicant/Edward Garrotte
• Michael Rooker - Det. Jake Riley
• Catherine Dent - Anne
• Brandon James Olson - Danny
• Pam Hyatt - Mrs. Rileyy
• Ian Robison - Stan Reisman

Reception

The reaction was mixed. Mike Jackson of DVD Verdict said, "It's far from a great film, but Replicant is quite possibly the best film Van Damme has starred in since his debut in Bloodsport. Fans of the genre should at least give it a rental."

Earl Cressey of DVD Talk called Replicant "a decent sci-fi action flick" that's "always engaging and has some great action scenes that fans of Van Damme will certainly enjoy." John Fallon of Arrow in the Head praised the film for "[putting] the emotional aspects of the story [...] first and the action [...] second." Fallon concluded, "The film does have its snags [but I] got way more than I expected."