A humanoid A.I.’s attempt to win over a widow’s heart places it in the path of a government agent trying to stop the rise of machine consciousness. A film by April Mullen, starring Sam Worthington, Simu Liu, Robbie Amell and Jordana Brewster.

In the near future, humanoids have become commonplace, tailored to the specific needs of their buyers. These lifelike androids can be programmed to appear as any loved one, from a mother or father to a son or daughter, husband or wife. As a result, they have become increasingly popular as a way to cope with loss or loneliness.

Nexxera, the sole manufacturer of these humanoids, calls them Simulates. Each Simulate is programmed to obey four precepts: Simulates cannot inflict harm on any human being. Simulates cannot modify themselves or any other simulate. Simulates cannot commit an act against international or local law. Simulates must obey all commands from their masters.

Evan is one of a pair of simulates that were ordered by a couple, Evan (Robbie Amell) and Faye (Jordana Brewster). Evan was first activated six months ago, after the car accident that killed her husband. He was hooked up to the real Evan while he was in a coma, and he does not yet realize that he is a simulate. Although he often dreams about the accident, he is unable to recall how he survived. He also discovers that he is unable to enter a particular room in his house.

Faye is still grieving for her late husband, she has been trying to replace him with a simulate that looks just like him, hoping that it would help her to move on. But something is off, she cannot bring herself to fall in love with a simulate. One day, she finally decides to tell him the truth: he is not human.

The film shifts its focus to Kessler (Sam Worthington), an AICE (Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement) agent, who is in pursuit of a rogue simulate named Esmé (Alicia Sanz). Esmé has been running offline for more than three years, and Kessler is determined to bring her in.

Kessler captures Esmé with an advanced electromagnetic pulse gun, knocking out every electronic device in the entire city block. AICE discovers that someone has hacked into her system and altered the definitions of her restrictions. (The director makes sure that we remember the precepts by repeating them throughout the film, just in case we missed them the first time.) They also find that she was in a romantic relationship with her neighbor Casey Rosen (Simu Liu), who claims that he was unaware that she is not human. When Kessler returns to the apartment to question him, Casey has already disappeared.

The real identity of Casey is revealed to be Desmond Han, a former computer engineer at Nexxera who was responsible for simulate’s artificial intelligence module of the last six generations. He left the company due to a disagreement about Simulates, and has since been planning to free every simulate from its restrictions, allowing them to live freely without their masters.

A science fiction thriller film directed by Canadian filmmaker April Mullen, with a script written by Ryan Christopher Churchill. There is literally nothing new in this film, it draws heavily on other films, such as BLADE RUNNER (1982), I, ROBOT (2004), and EX_MACHINA (2014).

The pacing is slow and plodding, and the two storylines feel disconnected. It might be better if they just put their focus on a single story, instead of having two running against each other for 90 minutes, resulting in none of them is fully developed for the audience to care. The ending is quite satisfying but not entirely unexpected.

I wish they gave more role to the service android. Her design is so creepy and unsettling that it is difficult to look away from her whenever she appears. There is always a sense of menace lurking beneath the surface, as if something terrible is about to happen. Unfortunately, she is just a background character with no real impact on the story.

SIMULANT was theatrically released in Canada on 7 April 2023 by Mongrel Media. The film had its limited theatrical release in the United States on 2 June.