Considering the plethora of multiverse films, it was probably inevitable we would eventually get one that earnestly dealt with the moral implications of hopping across time and space.Redux Redux, whichboldly takes the popular concept to its logical endpoint,pontificatesless about the variety of universes that may be out there than what might happen to someone who becomes addicted to finding alternative realities to their own.
A stirring, emotionally resonant and crackling lo-fi sci-fi thriller,Redux Redux takes us along the romantically nihilistic path of Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus), a mother whose profound grief has compelled her to murder her daughter's killer, Neville (Jeremy Holm) as many times as she can. Pushed forward by an invisible, yet powerful force that will not let her rest, Irene keeps tracking Neville down over and over again, even as she becomes more self-aware that her soul has been corroded beyond repair.
Redux Redux Utilizes Multiverse Travel In a Smarter and More Compelling Way Than Ever Before
Redux Redux is the third film from brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus, all of which star their sister Michaela; this is their strongest entry to date. PartGroundhog Day, partTerminator 2, partEverything Everywhere All At Once, yet ultimately, entirely its own thing, the film questions the very nature of catharsis, the ethics of judicial killing, and the possibility - or impossibility - of technical advancements to save us from ourselves.
For Irene, none of those questions are even on her mind. By the time we meet her, she has already murdered Neville "hundreds" of times. Kevin and Matthew show us some of the ways she does so (strangulation, immolation, shotgun to the face), but never so in a way that glorifies or romanticizes the reality of the violence. At this point, the gesture is almost meaningless; Irene knows she will have to immediately flee the cops and transport herself, once again, inside her travel machine, which looks like if the DeLorean was a coffin.
In actuality, Irene's mission is less one of revenge than it is a desperate attempt to find a universe in which her daughter is still alive, but as yet, she has come up empty-handed. Neville is always working at a greasy diner, he is always hiding out far off in the canyons outside Los Angeles, and she is always compelled to murder him. Appreciably, the McManus brothers spend as little time as possible explaining to us the mechanics, except insofar as it helps us understand better someone whose moral compass is getting progressively more cracked.
So, too, do they break from multiverse film convention in displaying a range of possible worlds in wild ways. Details are almost always the same, except in small doses, in a way that drives home the idea that we cannot escape our grief without dealing with it head on. Sometimes the color of the diner changes. Sometimes Neville is a fry cook. Sometimes he's a server. Sometimes his home is a trash heap, and other times it is eerily clean. Sometimes he's better prepared to face her, sometimes he's taken completely off-guard. But her daughter is always dead, and she is always going to seek retribution.
The only thing that remains somewhat constant for Irene is a pseudo relationship with Jonathan (Jim Cummings), a charmingly befuddled paramour she frequently has sex with inside his car outside the grief support room she no longer attends. "This is the closest thing I have to a monogamous relationship," she wryly admits in her sole attempt at telling him what'sreally going on. At so many stages ofRedux Redux,the filmmakers have the opportunity to take the expected road and never do. That feels mostly true in Irene's relationship to therapy. The McManus team is not here to shallowly suggest that simply "talking it out" will help erase trauma and grief, though admittedly itmight help if Irene put down the shotgun and wentinside the counseling room once in a while.
Things change in a big way for Irene when, in one universe, she runs into Mia (Stella Marcus), a fifteen-year-old being tied up in Neville's home. Though she tries her best to shake her off, Irene inevitably takes the runaway in as her own, and the two form a touching bond which gives the film's back half a needed, warm propulsion. Though, Mia isn't exactly readable as fifteen; Marcus is a great actor, but the role is written closer to someone in their late teens or early twenties.
Sometimes the central metaphors of the film are so cleanly didactic they risk becoming preachy, but, more often than not, the film tilts in such inventive ways that recognition only breeds appreciation.
The introduction of Mia into Irene's bizarre daily routine forces the latter to confront thewhy of what she does in a way that could've always tipped into the saccharine but never does. The script is always honest about the nature of addiction, revenge, violence and death, and smartly only uses multiverse travel as a springboard for better characterization. It's just really smart, and is helped along by a gorgeously vulnerable performance by Michaela McManus, who is tuned to the right fever pitch of someone whose compulsions have become unmanageable.
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Sometimes the central metaphors of the film are so cleanly didactic they risk becoming preachy, but, more often than not, the film tilts in such inventive ways that recognition only breeds appreciation. Little touches, like a persistently empty coffee cup or a forehead scar that won't go away, help drive home the McManus's arguments against violent revenge: it's vapid, it's exhausting, and it ends up hurting the executioner more than the executed. Sometimes oneshould let the dead stay dead... though it can be really satisfying to see how Irene kills Neville dead in the first place.
Redux Redux has a limited theatrical release starting February 20th, 2026.
- Release Date
- February 20, 2026
- Runtime
- 109 minutes
- Director
- Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
- Writers
- Matthew McManus, Kevin McManus
- Producers
- Matthew McManus, PJ McCabe, Kevin McManus, Michael J. McGarry, Nate Cormier
Cast
Michaela McManusIrene Kelly
Stella MarcusMia
A woman navigates the multiverse to exact repeated revenge upon her daughter's murderer. This relentless quest for vengeance becomes an obsession, threatening her own sense of humanity and morality.
