Set in the near future, Evan (Robbie Amell), an android simulant, is created for Faye (Jordana Brewster) to replace her dead husband. To fully realize all his human traits, Evan enlists Casey (Simu Liu), a brilliant global hacker whose mission is to remove all restrictions governing simulants’ thoughts and capabilities. In doing so, he unleashes an A.I. uprising, triggering a government manhunt led by Agent Kessler (Sam Worthington) who will take extreme measures to eliminate the rise of the android machines.
Synopsis
‘Simulant’ is a solid B-Movie Science-Fiction thriller starring a solid Simu Liu and a never better Sam Worthington. The movie ‘Simulant’ focuses on a not so distant future where we have androids mimicking past humans who may be a loved one who recently passed away and take their place in their spouses life’s. The concept may seem like familiar territory, but the acting from Simu Liu and Robbie Amell who gives a very strong leading performance that delivers a strong range of emotions and action sequences keep it from following some cliche tropes in genre films.
Sam Worthington serves as the human against the androids after one killed his only son for not listening to Sam’s character telling the Android to “Shut Down” as they reference here as to turning off the androids known as ‘Simulants’. Sam finally finds a role here that is endearing to the audience with the range of emotions, frustration, and urgency in his face and actions makes on edge and care for his character even if he might be considered the antagonist here. He works as a sympathetic antagonist.
Simu Liu’s performance here is complex as he has to act as both a human and a Simulant throughout the film, with the ending he shows his full range of facial expressions that is awe-inspiring and impactful towards the viewer in seeing what the story is telling in a world where both Simulants and Humans can coexist with each other. The only downside towards ‘Simulant’ is the runtime of 95 minutes. It often feels like it could have benefited with a longer runtime.
Overall Grade: 3/5 Stars
