John Wick Meets ‘Blade Runner’ in Prime Video’s Guilty Pleasure Sci-Fi Thriller
Prime Video is currently home to Replicas, a 2018 science-fiction thriller starring Keanu Reeves that has found a second life as a cult "guilty pleasure" streaming pick. Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, the film follows a grieving neuroscientist who takes drastic and legally questionable steps to bring his family back after a fatal accident, blending elements of Blade Runner-style android ethics with John Wick-esque action. Its appeal lies less in critical polish than in its unashamedly pulpy, B-movie charm, making it notable now as a resurfacing streaming curiosity rather than a new release.
In the film, Reeves plays William Foster, whose wife and three children die in a car crash during a family holiday. Rather than the more restrained, sci-fi solutions seen in shows like Black Mirror, Foster hides his family's bodies and attempts to clone them and transfer their consciousness into new bodies, leading him into conflict with the law and the scientific establishment. The 2018 release drew a lukewarm critical response, with reviewers criticising its muddy visual effects and far-fetched plot, but it has nonetheless built a following among viewers who embrace it as unpretentious, entertaining escapism now streaming on Prime Video.
- Replicas, a 2018 Keanu Reeves sci-fi thriller, is trending on Prime Video.
- Grieving scientist tries to clone and revive his dead family.
- Panned by critics but embraced by viewers as campy, fun escapism.