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For all the pomp, circumstance, and box office returns, Marvel blew it with their multiverse. After introducing the idea in the wake of its Avengers: Endgame success, the studio never found much use for it other than a steady string of guest stars, cameos, and retcons. Others had better luck with the concept. The Daniels traveled the timelines to Oscar success, balancing the emotional resonance of a central personal story amid an explosion of ideas, styles, and martial arts. Everything Everywhere All At Once showed how many universes could be explored with the right idea. Stepping through that concept’s portal is Redux Redux, the brain-scrambling sci-fi thriller from Matthew and Kevin McManus, which confidently proves how many timelines a film can get to with just a Penske box truck and a DIY steampunk coffin.
Michaela McManus, sister of the writer/directors, plays Irene, a mother on the revenge trail across the timelines in pursuit of Neville (Jeremy Holm), the fullback-sized line cook who killed her daughter. Searching in vain for a universe where her daughter hasn’t become the serial killer’s victim yet, Irene suffices to instead hunt Neville on a weekly loop. After several thousand spins through her grief cycle, Irene has not only become unstuck from time but also from herself, locked into something that has evolved into a routine. Every week is the same: Traveling across the greater Los Angeles metro, she hits Neville’s diner, her now-vacant former home, and finally, a grief support group, where she 50 First Dates the same guy and takes him back to the backseat of his car. But no matter how many runs of this self-imposed roguelike she clears, her daughter is always in another castle.
The grind has given Irene purpose, but not much to live for. However, it gives the McManus brothers a solid structure for their chase. After she kills Neville in grisly but increasingly dead-eyed configurations, Irene inevitably catches heat, and the LAPD pursues her to the seedy motel room where she hides her casket-sized multiverse-hopper that blows her to another timeline. Rinse and repeat. It’s not much of a life. It’s only when she meets Mia (Stella Marcus), the punchy 15-year-old who’s next on Neville’s chopping block, that Irene regains something to live for.
Redux Redux plays like Terminator 2 by way of Primer, containing massive ideas within a tight budget, wisely remembering that a strong script, precise editing, and rock-solid performances are still the best special effects. As the John Connor to Irene’s Sarah, Mia brings a different and unpredictable energy to the film. After a run-through of the murder machine goes sideways, Mia ends up in the box with Irene. The game is no longer about finding her daughter. It’s about getting Mia back home. But this also creates opportunities to explore the game itself, and the ease and simplicity with which the McManus brothers expand their sci-fi mythology is one of the film’s many on-going pleasures.
Redux Redux’s plot wouldn’t be so digestible if the multiverse hadn’t already become a fixture of the most popular entertainment in the world. Over the last decade, as the zeitgeist became convinced that this was in fact the worst timeline, movies like Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness and Everything Everywhere showed better ones, where people had hot dog fingers, and John Krasinski could play Reed Richards. But the parallel universes of Redux Redux hold such power because they contain a truth Lost taught 20 years ago: Whatever happened, happened. There could be a universe out there where Irene sees her daughter off to college, but it’s infinitely more likely that she’ll just continue killing Neville and what’s left of her humanity week in and out.
Redux Redux‘s logic doesn’t require much debate because it’s so tangible. Irene can’t move past her daughter’s death until she lets go of trying to undo it. These aren’t world-ending stakes: They’re bigger. And by keeping their movie grounded in street-level pursuits and raucous shootouts, the McManus brothers situate the multiverse concept in a believable reality that doesn’t require a subreddit to detangle. Redux Redux jumps swiftly and elegantly, finding timelines worth visiting again and again.
Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Writer: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Starring: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm
Release Date: April 4, 2025 (Overlook Film Festival)
