Redux Redux Movie Review

Redux Redux (2025)

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Written by: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus (screenwritr)
Directed by: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
Starring: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm
Rated: R
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Plot
Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter's murderer. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity hangs in the balance.

Verdict
It's an interesting premise where a woman is consumed and fueled by vengeance. When she helps out a teenager she realizes that there is room in her life for more than violence.  All of that is heightened as they hop between worlds. Irene's job is never done because the object of her revenge is always alive. She can never reach closure. This doesn't try to explain too much, not that you could, but it does just enough to make it seem credible. The underlying question is whether Irene can find something to replace the desire to kill.
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Review
Kevin, Matthew, and Michaela McManus are siblings.

This begins with quite an image. Irene stands over a man tied to a chair as he burns to death. Wow.

If you didn't know the premise, this would be wildly confusing. Irene (Michaela McManus) kills the same guy twice. She goes to the same diner a second time, looking for the guy she killed. The question is how more than why. She confronts this guy at home, and it's clear he killed her daughter and that's the reason she's after him, or them rather.

Michaela McManus plays Irene Kelly

It's not exactly time travel but dimension hopping through parallel worlds. We don't know where she got this device, but this has a great mood. In this world her counterpart is dead. She's likely traveled through many worlds, but this mission is isolating. She admits to a guy she's had a fling with across worlds that she's done this hundreds of times. He doesn't know what to think about her confession. I wondered why she would tell him, but she's likely lonely. This guy is the closest person she has where she can share this story, and she once spent two months with him. She has more feelings than he does. She's looking for a world where her daughter lived, but she still hasn't found it. It's a plot dump for the audience, but it also has a basis in a woman that's completely alone in this world she's created.

Irene attempts to kill this guy one more time and encounters Mia (Stella Marcus) locked up in his house. She's another pending victim, and they're forced to work together. Irene plans to continue her mission, but Mia doesn't want to split. She may be lonely or it could be the trauma from being abducted. She's afraid the guy is still out there. When they get into a jam, they hop universes together. Mia is shocked yet curious.

Stella Marcus, Michaela McManus play Mia, Irene

This is the dark variant of Groundhog Day (1993). Irene has killed this guy hundreds of times. I doubt this will answer how she got this machine, not that any answer would be satisfying. It is curious. I imagine she was a typical person with a family, but how do you become a universe hopper? I can understand the vengeance as a result of grief.

When her machine breaks Irene contacts smugglers for parts through a code in the newspaper. We get another information dump from the smugglers. They inhabit many worlds. Irene called her world 0,0 and the smugglers understood. I though their point of reference would be different, but this technology only exists on Irene's world.

This quest for vengeance was all Irene had, but now she's taking care of Mia. Due to that she wants to stop traveling. Mia is new to the concept, but she still wants revenge. That's what leads to trouble. Both of them have to figure out where they want to be in the world. Mia pursues violence and discovers it's not for her while Irene finds the world she's been seeking. She leaves it, as it's not for her. She's not going to leave Mia behind. Vengeance has a cost, but Irene found the one thing that could pull her back from the edge, and that was caring for another person. She didn't realize she still had the capacity.