The writer/director/brother duo drops us right into the fray. It grabs us and propels us along at breakneck speed; the first 12 minutes are unrelenting, including an epic chase. But even as they embroil the audience in this action scene, they work to establish the world. Things are a little odd, a little off-kilter, Irene seems to know things and have tools that don’t quite fit daily reality. Including what I like to call her interdimensional murder backpack.
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The propulsive momentum never really flags, neither does the world building, and there’s a lot of world building—throughout, you think you have a handle, only for the film to expand the scope and add more ingenious wrinkles. But for as much as there is, it’s woven organically into the narrative and tied closely to the characters and themes. Along her journey, Irene picks up a runaway teen moppet, Mia (Stella Marcus). They’re equally broken, guarded, and alone, though coming at it from different directions, and as Irene indoctrinates Mia, so too does she teach us.
As driven and often single-minded as she is, Irene is frayed and desperate, barely clinging to the last vestiges of her humanity as she grapples with what these repeated violent acts do and have done to her. McManus gives a stellar performance, portraying this raging sea of emotion just below a stoic, hyper-competent façade of a cold-blooded killer. Mia’s incursion into this pattern only complicates matters, and Marcus gives every bit as good as McManus. Her Mia is tough and defiant to the world, a bravado which only masks her own terror and insecurity. And that’s before she learns about hopping dimensions. Their developing bond and relationship drives everything else around it and is the heart of the film.
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While the pace forges continually forward, it’s never rushed or haphazard. The script isn’t afraid to take time for asides that, though they may not directly move the plot along, serve to deepen and develop the characters and ideas. A dalliance with Jonathan (Jim Cummings, playing the aw shucks Jim Cummings role), shows that Irene is not so far gone as to be without the need for human connection or the possibility of redemption. An encounter with Darla (Dendrie Taylor), a kindly trucker, demonstrates to Mia that the entire world may not be as cold, vindictive, and out to get her as she thinks. These moments add texture and warmth and weight, amping up the emotional stakes for both audience and characters.
Redux Redux is the kind of science fiction that favors ideas and inventiveness over spectacle; where character and theme take precedence over eye-candy. With intricate, thoughtful framing, sweeping shots, and excellent use of locations, even with a limited budget, it never feels small or constrained by its resources. Thrilling and clever, it wrestles with themes of grief, revenge, fate, what it means to be alive, and more, and packs one emotional wallop after another. Sorry McManus siblings, I was not familiar with your game, but this is something fantastic and special.
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