REDUX REDUX (2025)

Studio:   Saban Films
Director: The McManus Brothers
Writer:   The McManus Brothers
Producer: Michael J. McGarry, Matthew McManus, Kevin McManus, Nate Cormier, PJ McCabe
Stars:    Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings, Taylor Misiak, Grace Van Dien, Debra Christofferson, Dendrie Taylor, PJ McCabe

Review Score:

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Summary:

A grieving mother gains an unexpected companion while traveling to parallel realities where she repeatedly kills the man who murdered her daughter.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Grieving mother Irene Kelly uses a coffin-sized machine to travel the multiverse hundreds of times in search of a parallel reality where her daughter Anna is still alive. Unable to find such a world, Irene instead ends up repeatedly hunting down and killing Neville, the serial killer who murdered Anna.

In her current reality, Irene follows Neville from the diner where he works as a cook and confronts him inside his home to demand he reveal where her daughter’s body is. A struggle ensues. Irene stabs and then shoots Neville to death. Irene also recovers a lock of Anna’s hair from Neville’s box of victim mementos before fleeing from approaching sirens.

In her next reality, Irene shoots Neville in front of shocked customers and servers in the diner. Irene evades a police pursuit, races back to the motel room where she had been staying, and uses the multiverse machine to hurriedly escape to the next parallel reality before she can be arrested.

Irene attends a grief support meeting where she meets Jonathan, a man she repeatedly encounters for comfort and companionship during her travels. Irene invites Jonathan to join her at a bar where Irene is recognized as a woman who committed suicide following her daughter’s death. The awkward interruption causes Irene to apologize to Jonathan before leaving abruptly.

Irene recalls an alternate encounter with Jonathan where she once told him how they’ve met numerous times in different parallel universes. To prove her incredible claim, Irene shows Jonathan a Polaroid of the two of them together in a universe where they had a relationship for two months. Responding to Jonathan’s confusion, Irene explains how she’s been searching for a world where her daughter wasn’t kidnapped and murdered, but she ended up in an inescapable loop where she’s driven to continually kill Anna’s murderer.

At the latest reality’s diner, Irene learns Neville called in sick. Irene goes to Neville’s house and is surprised to find Mia Brown, a 15-year-old runaway, being held captive. Irene frightens away Neville with gunfire and rescues the girl.

Upon learning Irene was there to kill Neville, Mia eagerly asks to join Irene in seeking vengeance, but Irene refuses to bring her along. Irene sends Mia on her way after giving the girl money, but she quickly discovers Mia stole her gun.

To get to Echo Canyon, which is where Irene told her Neville has a hideout, Mia hitches a ride with Darla, a truck driver who sympathizes with Mia’s runaway situation. Darla takes Mia to a truck stop restaurant where Irene catches up to them, demanding to get her gun back. Thinking Irene is a domineering mother getting physical with her daughter, Darla intervenes until Mia convinces her to leave. Mia forces Irene to let her join the hunt for Neville as a condition of returning Irene’s gun.

Irene and Mia go to a gas station where Mia finds a missing persons flyer regarding her disappearance. Gus, the gas station’s clerk, catches Mia shoplifting a bottle of wine and calls the cops.

Neville unexpectedly enters the gas station. A sudden gunfight ensues between Irene and Neville. Gus is killed in the crossfire. Neville surrenders to the cops that arrive outside, but Irene shoots him in the back. Irene then gets herself and Mia inside the machine being transported in the back of a rental truck and the two of them quickly escape to the next reality.

Mia is confused to see they are at the same gas station, except Gus is back to life and the missing persons flyer she removed is still on the wall even though she also has it in her hand. Irene tells Mia about the multiverse and the machine. Irene then points out that they cannot return to Mia’s universe yet because of what happened at the gas station in that world. Irene also discourages Mia from being consumed by vengeance as she reiterates her insistence on confronting Neville alone.

In need of a new fuel core to repair the damaged multiverse machine, Irene uses a coded classified ad to obtain coordinates for a remote location where she and Mia meet Billie and Travis, two smugglers who secretly traffic in multiverse machine technology. Billie implies she will trade a new fuel core for Mia, which Irene immediately refuses. Claiming the situation was misunderstood, Billie alternately proposes a significant overpayment of $10,000. With only $2,200 in cash remaining, Irene gives Billie and Travis that money instead.

After taking the money, Billie and Travis lock Irene and Mia inside the underground bunker where their meeting was taking place. Irene and Mia escape when the bunker explodes, but they are recaptured on the surface. Mia escapes Billie by grabbing the woman’s knife and slashing her face. Irene reaches her gun and shoots Travis. Irene moves to shoot Billie, but Mia convinces her to spare the other woman. Mia swipes the replacement fuel core before she and Irene drive away.

Mia convinces Irene to teach her how to shoot a gun. Irene next takes Mia to her old house, which is abandoned in the current reality, to regroup and repair the machine. There, Mia discovers Irene doesn’t exist in any of the parallel realities because the other Irenes all committed suicide following her daughter’s death.

Irene explains that she became so consumed by revenge, she no longer knows how to live a life that doesn’t focus on always hunting Neville. Claiming Mia won’t recognize the person she becomes, Irene warns her not to follow a similar path. Suggesting they may have been fated to find each other, Mia points out that if Irene never rescued her, Mia would be dead.

While Mia sleeps, Irene slips away to go to Neville’s house. Irene is horrified to find that reality’s Mia gruesomely killed.

With the machine fixed, Irene offers to take Mia back to her reality where they can live a normal life together. Irene reluctantly reveals this world’s Mia was murdered. Mia insists on revenge. Irene’s refusal causes an angry Mia to stage a public outburst where she loudly accuses Irene of kidnapping her. This forces Irene to leave Mia behind so she can rush back to the machine and jump to the next world.

Rattled over what just happened with Mia, Irene seeks out Jonathan in her current world, but her erratic behavior causes him to be overly wary of her. Irene instead goes to the diner where Neville usually works and confides in Deb, a waitress, about troubles relating to children. When she asks about Neville, Irene is shocked to learn he is serving a life sentence in this reality, and he has been in prison for 15 years.

Realizing this universe’s Anna wasn’t murdered, Irene drives to her house and spies her alternate self living happily with her daughter. Unable to resist, Irene greets Anna when she comes outside. The two of them have an emotional interaction that’s odd for Anna, after which Irene issues a warning to not talk to strangers and then leaves.

Back in her current world, Mia confronts Neville. Confused to see the girl he just killed, Neville assumes his victim must have had a sister. Mia tries shooting Neville, but he knocks her out and puts her in a car trunk with the dead Mia’s body.

Irene returns to that world intent on reuniting with Mia. Irene tracks Neville to a remote location where he puts Mia in a barrel he rolls into a deep body of water. Irene catches her foot in an animal trap, giving Neville an opportunity to sink her into the water too.

Mia wrestles free from the barrel. Once she resurfaces, Mia violently strikes Neville from behind. He falls into the water.

Irene works her foot free from the animal trap and resurfaces to embrace Mia. Mia cries that she never wants to have that experience again. Irene assures her she won’t have to.

Irene and Mia return to Irene’s old house in the previous reality. In the front yard, Irene sets fire to the multiverse machine. Mia rests her head on Irene’s shoulder as the two of them watch the machine burn.

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Review:

In “Redux Redux,” Irene Kelly is in possession of a mysterious machine capable of traveling to parallel realities. When it comes to suspending disbelief, there’s a mindset that won’t be able to get past wondering how Irene acquired this apparatus or how it works, questions the movie not only doesn’t answer, but has no imperative need to directly address.

That mindset belongs to a viewer dooming their own ability to experience a compelling, original indie by being hung up on scientific stickling when “Redux Redux” doesn’t require its setup to be backed by extraneous explanations. The film simply needs the fantastical concept to exist so it can frame a grounded parable about grief, human connection, and losing one’s identity to obsession.

“Redux Redux” isn’t a Marvel movie, far from it, and Irene isn’t a superhero traversing the multiverse to stop a galaxy-ending threat from another dimension or to find a cosmic artifact that might drastically alter an apocalyptic event. She’s merely a grieving mother desperate to find an alternate, ordinary world where her beloved daughter Anna wasn’t kidnapped and murdered by a serial killer named Neville. After hundreds of journeys, Irene hasn’t found a universe with a different outcome for her daughter. Instead, she’s been consumed by an endless loop of exacting revenge, killing Neville over and over again and again for the sliver of fleeting satisfaction it offers.

Although she still doesn’t find Anna alive, Irene finally finds something she never encountered in any of her previous timeline jumps. During another infiltration of Neville’s house of horrors, Irene encounters Mia, a 15-year-old runaway being held captive. Upon rescuing the troubled teen, Irene gains a sidekick who injects small spikes of comic relief through her brash behavior, unapologetic quips, and instinct to get out of jams by staging outrageous public outbursts.

Mia doesn’t know Irene has done this before, but once she learns Irene plans to kill Neville, Mia wants in. Irene won’t have it, warning the outgoing girl that setting out on a road to revenge is a good way to go astray. Mia has more than one scheme up her sleeve to find Neville herself, yet even though she and Irene go their separate ways twice, their paths continue crossing as each of them teaches the other something about the persons they are, and the persons they should be instead.

“Redux Redux” is written and directed by brothers Matthew and Kevin McManus, and stars their sister Michaela McManus, all of whom previously performed the same duties for 2020’s “The Block Island Sound.” “Redux Redux” delivers a similar style of cerebral suspense, relatable characterizations, and everyday locations that feel right for the story being told, not because a smaller scale was the only option. Smartly, the McManus Brothers never bite off more than they can chew by trying to be more spectacular than their lower budget can afford, yet they keep the scope sensible without having to skimp on thrills.

Even without big Hollywood stunts or set pieces, the movie manages to include a burning car, a couple of small explosions, and an underwater sequence. There’s also a tense police pursuit that’s cleverly edited with such sharp cuts, many eyes won’t notice the siren-less cop car doesn’t look quite right. Funny to me personally, I recognized the streets in this scene because they’re in a nearby, normally quiet L.A. neighborhood where I regularly walk, and based on location, I might guess these shots were grabbed on the go in true guerrilla fashion.

There’s ample action to counterbalance the bigger focus on personal interactions, though some viewers may lose interest in who is participating in several of those interactions. Jeremy Holm’s Neville, the serial killer, isn’t supposed to have a layer other than his outer one as a catalyst for Irene’s quest, so his lack of depth isn’t an issue. Other choices for conversations keep “Redux Redux” from being as tight as it could be. On top of too much backstory for Mia, too many minutes are set aside for a sympathetic truck driver to share her own problematic personal history, a passing driver with questionable intentions when offering Mia a ride, and Mia shoplifting gun ammo on two separate occasions.

While the 110-minute runtime could use a trim to maintain more energy, “Redux Redux” is an easy recommend for anyone who enjoyed “The Block Island Sound” or low-key sci-fi that’s not about aliens, lasers, or exploding planets. Amusingly, I wrote in my notes for this screening to liken the tone to “They Look Like People” (review here), only to rediscover I made the same mention in my review of “The Block Island Sound” (review here). Hopefully these points of reference make sense in getting a grasp of how “Redux Redux” plays. Other titles in adjacent areas include “Nightmare Code” (review here), “Predestination” (review here), and “Time Lapse” (review here), all of which coincidentally released in 2014. Maybe “Redux Redux” can lead a new wave of mindbender movies that don’t have to burst with flashy theatrics to make an intelligent, exciting, entertaining impact.

Review Score: 75

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