User Reviews

In the near future, a computer hacker (Casey) agrees to help a humanoid simulant (Evan) by removing all of the restrictions on his programme so that the simulant can be more human. However, when the government agency known as AICE become aware of this they do everything in their power to track down the hacker and the simulant, but Casey has much bigger plans in store...

The last decent film that I can remember on thought-control was The Minority Report and everything else on the same or similar subject matter I've since has been either average or bad. Whilst Simulant has some merit it's not really a great film....

First and foremost, the film is not really a particularly thrilling experience. There is some energy with AICE pursuing Casey and Evan, but it's not well-enough executed to have you on the edge of your seat. Even parts of the narrative seem flawed; it seems that the only way AICE can stop the Simulants when something goes wrong is by using EMP (which apparently is only supposed to be used in extreme circumstances). So you're telling me that this is the only measure that they have in place to stop the Simulants? No failsafe code or key phase that can be used to shut them down even when they go rogue or are hacked?? Nothing in place to remotely shut them down when the same happens?? All the simulants have unique ID numbers, but they can seemingly go missing and off-the-grid?? Why would they not have trackers fitted to them or something similar? I seem to remember Ex Machina sharing some of the same narrative flaws.

I know this is my opinion and is entirely subjective, but I'm not even sure I can really see the benefits to those who are left behind by having a simulant in place of their husband/wife/son/daughter... They have their memories wiped and are incapable of expressing their own thoughts/feelings meaning that they are effectively walking zombies...why on earth would anyone choose to bring back a loved one who is so different to the person that they once were? Wouldn't that be more painful than simply letting them go and just hanging on to the memories and time that you shared together? Other films have explored similar themes, but generally with more positive connotations when it comes to humans living with AI. As far as I was concerned, it just seemed a bit of a strange way to set its stall out.

I suspect Simulant is going to be one of those divisive films where some will give it 10's 9's and 8's whereas others will give it 1's 2's and 3's. Ironically, I am sitting somewhere in the middle and whilst I found elements of it interesting it doesn't do enough to set it out from the crowd and offers little that hasn't been seen before.

The writers probably like to think that they have re-invented the wheel and created something profound. I, however, beg to differ.

Yes, it is somewhat derivative from Blade Runner. It is low budget, somewhat predictable, the characters are not well developed. Take the detective. Why does he hate simulants so much? It's touched in the end but barely. I can't relate to his hatred for the entire movie. He should be an ambiguous character, but he just comes across as hateful instead. And not redeemed too. Just a hateful schmuck who gets what he deserves.

There are goofs and plot holes:

* The replicant punches a guy so hard that he flies 15 yards away and just gets up and walks?

* The detective goes everywhere with a bunch of goons and suddenly he goes alone? Because stupid or what?

* The replicant is so very smart but in the end goes to a location which is definitely known to the enemy and he can't see that?

* The Evil Megacorp with endless budget knowns that something shady is going on but they send just a single not too smart detective to investigate?

But overall it's entertaining. I felt engaged at least half of the time. The twist in the end is a bit unexpected. It's worth one and a half hours.

I love sci fi, love it.

But this is tricky because despite state of the art humanoids who can do all sorts of amazing stuff- being shot does not it seems trigger even the most basic emergency call! Even my current car can do that, oh and my phone and watch if I had a crash.

My mum has a button round her neck that could call for help.

That aside it is still odd, nobody seems to have any friends, honestly if I had a pool like that I'd have lurds of friends.

I love my husband but there's absolutely nothing that would induce me to make a stimulant based on him- he is hard enough as an actual human never mind a creepy replica with no sense of humour and an inability to play the piano.

So despite the fact that I love the Canadians and I want to like the film,this is v. Silly.

Okay maybe not quite rubbish but not quite Okay either. The bells should be ringing when the near perfect couple have near perfect hobbies and near perfect sex and are near perfect beautiful as well!

They don't argue, look like hell in the morning and have a house where you can't find the car keys! But then they have a near perfect AI house maid to make time for all the things we don't!

We see the world through Mr Perfects eyes and the couple go through a car accident and from his perspective, things are not the same after. He has odd dreams and isn't allowed into a certain room his wife keeps locked.

The world treats simulants as 2nd class citizens although people can have their consciousness downloaded into them when they die. A procedure not unknown to every sci-fi fan. Mrs Perfect isn't coming clean on everything and there's a shady character we come across who has a foot in both camps.

Needless to say there's not much new here and the twist at the end, which I'm not going to spoil, isn't that much of a surprise. A good attempt by the actors to make more of the movie but a B movie all the same.

I really like the movie. Who say you cannot tell another Bladerunner like story. I like everything only two issues....spoilers ahead I guess:

The environment is ok, 100 years ago the environment was almost the same thing. There are always old cars but also brand new and probably something super-modern, could give more realism. Buildings, cities and neighborhoods doesn't tend to change too much.

The only thing that make no sense to me: the guy killing his wife. He is suppose to be an exact copy of the guy, even emotions like love. A person in love will never never kill his love like that even if she treat him that way. But is just my opinion. Is a good movie.