On April 8th I had the privilege of attending the red carpet event in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. After that night, I went and watched the film 2 more times on the big screen. I can't express how entertaining this movie was and in my opinion this is so far Wango films best movie to date (although I do love all their films.) The acting was phenomenal by all and couldn't ask for a better set of set of cast members to work on this project. The storytelling was written very well and the diologue helped move the story along. The story line was intelligent and easy to follow. The story telling through the camera's lens was absolute genius and made me not want to miss a single second of any scene. The locations (Hamilton, Ontario) were scouted with perfection and captured the style and gritiness which they set out to achieve. I have tremendous respect not just for this movie but also the cast and crew for being tough and buckling down to accomish this movie while filming in Canada's cold winter months which is unpleasant in itself.

I do wish we could of seen alittle bit more with Kessler's character and his back story. However, nothing was lost from not having this addition in the film.

I want to conclude by adding, I love how the opening diologue and closing diologue is a tribute to the original title, I thought that was very clever and I'm really looking forward to adding this film to my collection when it is available in physical copy. This movie is worth a watch.

The comparison to Blade Runner was going to be inevitable. Simulants are replicants, and they have become more advanced where self-awareness and autonomy is becoming a social problem, so an enforcement agency tracks down rogue simulants. Sound familiar? "More human than human" of the Tyrell Corporation is replaced with Nexxera's "simulants are as close to human as humanly possible". It would be generous to say this movie pays homage to the 1982 classic-there are plenty of easter eggs. This is, unfortunately, a Canadian low budget production that doesn't do it much justice.

Cast has many recognizable Canadian B and indie actors, some regulars in the sci-fi scene. Of course, the most recognizable is Simu Liu of recent Marvel universe fame.

There are some salvageable aspects that explore bioethical issues we are at the cusp of having to address for real. But the movie lacks any subtlety to convey the gravitas. The AI "precepts" are repeated multiple times to remind the audience, rather than work them into the screenplay, which to me is lazy writing. The "ominous" soundtrack plays on a loop throughout the movie, a poor attempt at creating tension and suspense. CGI is minimal, and the rest are making the most out of budget props and industrial locations.

I'm actually surprised this was picked up by HBO Max and not Syfy, where it's would find a more appropriate home and audience. It's not entirely unwatchable, if you adjust your expectations.