Product: Replicant [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 3.0
Van Damme beats himself up
You've got to give Jean-Claude Van Damme credit. Aging action heroes don't have a lot of choices, but Van Damme isn't afraid to put a different spin on the tired trope of playing two different characters in the same film (see Total Recall, Time Cop, The One, etc.). The two roles are distinctly different, down to their martial arts styles. Edward "The Torch" Garrotte (Van Damme) is a brutal Special Forces soldier with mommy issues who murders bad mothers and set their corpses on fire. The replicant (Van Damme) is a clone of the serial killer with "genetic memory" who is a bit of a simpleton. Bad Van Damme uses brutal kicks and slams; good Van Damme grapples and performs gymnastics.About that title: Replicant is predicated on the belief that a clone has "racial memory" of the original. Instead of using good ole' police work to find the serial killer, a secret government agency clones him, and then entrusts him into the care of retired cop Jake Riley (Michael Rooker). It just so happens this retired cop was the archnemesis of the serial killer but had given up the detective life in exchange for a boat. That's when the government spooks scoop him up and put him in charge of their replicant.Things don't go well at first. The Riley, who isn't a very compassionate man, treats the replicant no better than a dog, heaping verbal and physical abuse on him. When the replicant escapes, he is seduced by prostitutes, assaulted by pimps, and nearly dies in the street. It takes a certain level of dedication from an actor for him to lose control of himself on a shapely prostitute's leg and then walk around with a wet spot on his pants. Clearly, Van Damme took this role with nothing to lose.The pathetic nature of the replicant is made up for by the surprisingly nuanced Garrotte, who still visits his terrifying mother in the hospital. Garrotte is a dead-eyed, brutal killer that quite likes the idea of a brother.Although Riley goes through a predictable transformation from hard-nosed cop to father figure, the change is rife with clichéds -- it involves buying ice cream in the park, a staple of all good fathers. There's also not a lot of martial arts action between the two versions; fans of Van Damme's traditional work will be disappointed.And yet you have to give Replicant props for trying. It's not high drama, but it does provide some interesting twists on a tired genre in which every action star takes turns beating himself up.