Dual The Genre-Bending Film That Intrigues And Confuses. Out On Blu-Ray And DVD July 19, 2022

Posted on July 21, 2022 by chrishammond54 in Film Reviews // 0 Comments

By Chris Hammond

Director/Writer Riley Stearns
Karen Gillan as Sarah / Sarah’s Double
Aaron Paul as Trent
Theo James as Robert Michaels
Beulah Koale as Peter
Maija Paunio as Sarah’s Mother
Sanna-June Hyde as Doctor
Andrei Alén as Facility Tech
Kris Gummerus as Tom
XYZ Films RLJE Films

DUAL DVD
  Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating:  R
Language:  English
Subtitles: N/A
Format:  Color 
Year:  2022
SRP:  $27.97
Length: 95 minutes 
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 5.1

DUAL BLU-RAY
 Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating:  R
Language:  English
Subtitles: N/A
Format:  Color 
Year:  2022
SRP:  $28.96
Length: 95 minutes 
Aspect Ratio:  1.85:1
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Dual is from director/writer Riley Stearns. His previous films include Faults (2014) and The Art of Self-Defense (2019). This time out Stearn takes a very deadpan look at the world of clones and the effects on the “originals”.

Sarah (Karen Gillan) lives a disenchanted life. She drinks too much, she’s in an unhappy relationship. Oh yeah, she also avoids her hound of a mother. Things change though when she falls ill one day and goes to see her physician. The news is not good Sarah is terminal and will die. News like this causes many grieving stages, she wants to shield the people in her life from the loss of, well her. The good news is there’s a process where terminal people can opt for a cloning procedure. This clone will shadow the original and take over their lives once they die.

Skip to 10 months later where Sarah gets some startling news, she’s gone into full remission. No longer is on death’s door she’s ready to take over her life. There’s one problem though, her family prefers the clone. Now she must fight the clone in a public duel to the death to regain her life. Whoever wins gets the prestige of Sarah’s life.

Stearn has a great setup which touches on many different aspects throughout the film. At one point he incorporates dance sequences between Trent (Aaron Paul) and Sarah (Karen Gillian). These dry(but funny) sequences happen during the intense scenes of training for the duel. The issue that the film suffers from is that it doesn’t know where it should go. There’s science fiction, action, drama, and even a bit of comedy/horror mixed in.

To be completely honest though, this film is more suited for the arthouse genre. It isn’t a film that sets out to make millions with stunning effects, it is a film that is very character driven. The problem is none of the characters are likeable and at the end of the day viewers won’t care who wins the duel.

The training sequences are interesting enough but there’s a feeling of overstaying your welcome. It is fun to see Aaron Paul sink his teeth into an interesting role post-Breaking Bad. The movie would work better if centred around his training of the originals(almost like a Rocky/Mickey relationship).

The other issue is that there’s a pretty predictable third act. Both Sarahs should have seen coming. Taking this all into account, there’s enough of the good to outweigh the bad. The director’s audio commentary helps to explain many of the reasoning behind things. It also gives viewers a better understanding of what was going on and why. Watch this right after watching the film.

Dual is a collection of many attractive ideas, but, these get lost in a twine of too little, too late. The scenes between Gillan and Paul are perfect, but they feel like filler for a missing plot. There’s enough here to recommend Dual, but first check out Riley Stearn’s other films so you know what you’re in for.