It Takes Two to Dual Duel

 

We don't get enough clone movies. I suppose there are some practical reasons for that, but you know what I like? Clone movies. 

Especially bitterly funny ones. 

Quick Plot: Sarah has a rare terminal illness that will certainly kill her, 2% margin of error be damned. Her next steps are to plan a funeral, tell her loved ones (boyfriend Peter and widowed mom), and make the biggest decision of her soon-to-be-short life: whether or not to commission a double.

A double, as you probably guessed, is a private company-produced clone designed to take over your life when you die, thereby sparing friends and family from mourning. Sarah's Double comes out slightly wrong...and by some measures, improved: blue eyes instead of brown, a perfect physique that's a full size smaller than Sarah's, and sexual preferences far more compatible with Peter's taste.

It's a problem made worse with some good news: Sarah's cured! 

In most scenarios, Sarah's Double would be decommissioned (a nice word for executed) but since she's had a full 10 months to become a person, the rules change. It's her legal right to challenge her original to a duel, scheduled one year from the date of filing and broadcast live for hungry audiences. All of Sarah's Original's costs during this time are to be covered by Sarah, and whichever version survives (there can only be one) has to spend the rest of her life paying off the rest of the cloning bills. 

We get a preview of this universe's duels in the film's opening and later, Sarah's personal trainer Trent (Aaron Paul) lays out the rest of the rules: each combatant has access to a table with five weapons, and five seconds to choose one. The match ends when one fighter is dead.

Simple, awful, and yes, kind of cool. And while I REALLY enjoyed Dual and highly recommend it, I should also be very clear to say that this is not actually a film about duels. It's more, well, as you might guess from the title, interested in the "dual" side of this.

What I mean is that at the risk of spoiling something, I feel it necessary to say that you should not come to this movie expecting The Running Man or Raze. That's not the story writer/director Riley Stearns wants to tell. His is far more in tune with something like Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster: a stilted sci-fi black comedy that gives our reality a bizarre new rule only to dull the rest of the world down. It eliminates the wonder, thereby making it a whole lot easier to understand the themes. 

High Points

I've never not loved watching Karen Gillan work, so yes, it's certainly exciting to see her do it two ways. It's also an incredibly tricky performance that requires a LOT of heavy lifting: Stearns' world is already a fairly cold place, but even within that, Sarah is coded as being insensitive. Gillan has a LOT of responsibility here, and she nails it all with something very unique

Low Points

I know, I know: I'm here telling you not to expect much action but that doesn't mean I didn't want more myself. I'm simple that way

Lessons Learned

Awards in the workplace have been proven to boost morale

Doctors are depressed because people cry when they hear bad news

The future may be a dark place where doctors misdiagnose patients without any consequence, but at least we can take comfort in knowing that not only are there multiple variations of nachos, there's also a lot of haunted house-set porn

Rent/Bury/Buy

Dual is streaming on Hulu and I absolutely loved it. It's weird, funny, and has some interesting things to explore. Just know that you're not actually getting a film about duels. Still worth it!