Yet another Jean-Claude Van Damme film that sees him tasked with playing two characters. In spite of its shaky reputation this isn't half bad, it delivers what most Van Damme fans expect, namely bonkers fights and shifty science. Plot has Van Damme as a fire obsessed serial killer who is always one step ahead of the police. Enter science as a chance to clone the killer arises and this sets in motion the wheels of the Van Damme clone trying to come to terms with his alien world as he, and world weary police officer Jake Riley (Michael Rooker), set about capturing the unhinged mad man.It's of course daft but it's a whole bunch of fun, and with the strong presence of Rooker supplemented by two very interesting performances by Van Damme, pic is in good hands. The fight scenes are smoothly choreographed and exciting, with director Ringo Lam clearly aware of what makes a Van Damme movie work. It's not prime Van Damme, but it's above average and well worth checking out for those so inclined. 6/10

We begin brutally, with the assault of an attractive and barely-dressed young woman. A scraggly-haired killer beats the woman, then sets her on fire. Her baby is spared, but must witness the incident. It is committed by the first of star Jean-Claude Van Damme's dual roles in this film – he is Edward Garrotte, known as "The Torch" for setting his victims on fire. Let's call him "Bad Van Damme ". A serial killer, Bad Van Damme delights in tormenting the Seattle, Washington Police Department. He even calls detective Michael Rooker (as Jacob "Jake" Riley) to boast. After over three years of trying to capture Bad Van Damme, Mr. Rooker has reached the end of the line. Unexpectedly, Rooker decides to end his retirement when a top secret government group hires him to hunt Bad Van Damme...Rooker is given an unusual new partner – "Replicant". This man may be the clone of Bad Van Damme and appears to share psychic powers with his twin. Let's call him "Good Van Damme" (relatively speaking). Born looking exactly as his adult counterpart, but with a neater hairstyle, Good Van Damme learns gymnastics by watching TV. He does it better than sitting or standing. Despite his mastery of gymnastics, Good Van Damme appears to have the mind of a small child. Rooker starts out disciplining him violently, because Good Van Damme reminds him of Bad Van Damme. Rooker and Good Van Damme go after Bad Van Damme, but the relationship between the three gets complicated. You'll have to watch to see if Good Van Damme stays good and helps Rooker capture Bad Van Damme...The violent interaction between the three muscular men is directed by Ringo Lam. He does a fine job moving the story and keeping the level of excitement high – but the emphasis is on violent action and thinly-reasoned martial arts cloning. There is only a sketchy match-up between the mechanics and story. We don't really know what martial arts has to do with cloning; possibly, the original Van Damme studied the arts before letting his hair grow and killing bad mothers. The character played by Rooker is also very violent, which is never explained – or even addressed properly in the film. Note how quickly Rooker beats up his partner after he assumes the handcuffed man attacked a boy. Rooker is not only wrong, but also does nothing that would have helped the kid or brought back his Popsicle.***** Replicant (5/11/01) Ringo Lam ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Rooker, Catherine Dent, Ian Robison

Unlike Seagal's crop of DTV crud, Van Damme has been making a very strong effort to make his releases better. "Replicant" is one of them. This is the fourth movie that Van Damme has been in where he plays two people. (See also: "Double Impact", "Maximum Risk", and "Timecop") I wonder if that's in his contract. The plot is: A serial killer named "The Torch" (Van Damme) is on the loose. Rogue cop Jake Riley (Rooker) has to stop him. When "Torch" leaves one of his strands of hair at the crime scene, the idea is to clone him and stop him.Van Damme plays the clone like a baby. He has to learn to speak, walk and fight. It's a very good performance. Michael Rooker puts in his usual gruff performance. Ringo Lam directs the action scenes with a lot of style and energy. The climatic fight between both clones is fun but we've seen it before."Replicant" is definitely worth seeing. The fans will enjoy it and non-fans I think will be surprised by Van Damme's performance.For more insanity, please visit comeuppancereviews.com

I think we can never wait an A+ movie from the Belgian martial arts star. But between all those weak movies he made after his only one chance period, this is a big-good-surprise. Maybe it's Ringo Lam the answer or maybe Van Damme realized, that he must turn his character in a better way. I don't know but Replicant works for me. Okay I was a big fan of JCVD in the '90s. And I always hoped maybe Tarantino will bring him back to the top 10. The Replicant is not a typical Van Damme movie. He plays a double role like in Double Team but the story is much better than in 1990. It's not perfect there are typical B-movie parts and we can clearly see here is nothing to do with Hollywood. In his way with the good(!!!) acting of JCVD and Michael Rooker Replicant goes higher than we can imagine. Van Damme's double character is good enough. Action comes with the evil side and feelings and a lot of things more with the "clone". Some parts of the movie are really good. Especially when Rooker punishes Van Damme in the basement. A really good scene!!! So, maybe You like him, maybe not give him a chance! It's worth to see and wonder how can a B-movie star climbing near to the top of the Hollywood mountains.