Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

JohnMoore One of these days, I'll see one of these so-called "horror" films that Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs. This and "Bright Future" are the only two I've seen thus far and both were completely unexpected. Don't let the American box art deceive you: it's not a "frightening" film. However, it's fantastic. And truly bizarre. Assigning this film a genre is a ridiculous exercise. It shifts seamlessly between moments of high emotional drama, absurdist comedy, and violence. And underneath it all is an interesting exploration of the concept of self: The reconciliation of who one wants to be, who one is trying to avoid becoming, and who one is. As the credits rolled, I laughed, impressed. Don't go into the film with expectations. Just try it.

sljones44 There are some elements of Hitchcock in the film. The set up is annoyingly slow for some people, but it's quite rewarding. The message of the film, is to listen to your own self, not the doppelganger. the doppelganger is within us, not necessarily seen. The point of him seeing is doppelganger, is that his double has the temerity to do the things he (Hayasaki) couldn't do. As he becomes bolder and more amoral he wonders is he becoming the doppelganger? Is Hayashi becoming the worst part of himself? Or perhaps his double is the real suppressed Hayashi? He discovers his ruthless, ambitious, lustful self through his double. It would make an interesting remake with issues of duality and existentialism. If we could have a conversation with ourselves, what would we say? - what would our other self say to us? This would be a fascinating concept that was done in several films - most notably "Jo Jo Dancer, Your life is Calling" - "the ghost of Christmas future showing Jimmy Stewart's future without him and his effect on others. Also "Family Man" with Nicolas Cage explored this theme. DePalma's "Raising Cain" (to a lesser degree) I thought this premise was pretty good - some may think it was a bit underdeveloped, but I liked it.

racecaraddict2400 Doppleganger is a smart film and I think that people are selling it short by looking at the negatives like "lack of CG FX". Money doesn't make the best films. If you're looking for only horror films, this may not be for you, but to slander Doppleganger for bad marketing, too, is not the film's fault. Not every Asia Extreme film is going to be a horror-masterpiece. There has to be room for flexibility within the genres and this movie is one of those. It's a thriller, without the blood. You can't blame the film for that. And judging a movie by the box is just plain dumb. With that aside, yes, I did pop in the DVD assuming it would be horror, but the film impressed me nonetheless. It's actually more of a sci-fi psychological thriller. It reminded me of the cult classic 80's films like 'The Reanimator' except without the same "gore/slasher" aspects. To begin with the acting is amazing, but that's not even the best part. The director is really on top of his game.What's amazing about these Asian directors like Kurosawa is that they're more versed in American cinema than the idiots directing for the big American studios these days. If you look at the way the story unfolds, and the movement of the camera, and music choice, not to mention the awesome split screen (which I thought was really advantageous to this movie) you can tell that Kurosawa has to have seen some classic DePalma movies like "Blowout" and "Body Double" (Blowout, 1980 -- Tarantino loved it...and was the reason he used Travolta in Pulp Fiction). It's also feels like there's a shadow of Cronenberg as well, and those robots look like "Johnny 5" from Short Circuit.What you have to understand is that this film is looking at the idea of the doppleganger as a metaphor. A lot of people have trouble understanding the fact that these types of movies are psychological and often contain the unexplainable. Like in fight club with Brad Pitt's character, the doppleganger is not really real. He exercises control over Hayasaki because Hayasaki lacks the will to believe in himself and his science.The movie really dissects the idea of what it means that we have a 'will' in the first place. That's what's going on in the 2nd scene where they're trying to adjust the controls. The intern kid is a weak person, without a strong will and he cannot control the robot device. The movie is ultimately about control. And Hayasaki's lack of control is what creates the doppleganger in the first place. The ending isn't really that ambiguous, either. I don't know why anyone would think it's ambiguous. I won't spoil it, though.Anyway, here's the point. If you like psychological thrillers, you're a fan of cult psychological thrillers and science films, and you want to see a movie that is totally engaging, has some cool robot scenes and a solid plot, Doppleganger is a great film.

Gary-The King-Tooze Well, where can I start? The first 50 minutes were building well... and then its like they had no story to continue and a 6 year old was making up the plot. I moderately liked Kurosawa's "Cure", but this had absolutely no point to it... certainly not one that I could distinguish. The guys from Mystery Theater 3000 would have torn all those massive plot holes apart at the seams. I began to suspect that it was turning into a comedy.... honestly. I don't think I have ever seen a film fall so abruptly flat on its face. I defy anyone to explain or even remember all the plot instances (how many times did people get bashed over the noggin with a pipe or wrench?). I really don't think there was any organization in this production.... ohh, and those split screens were not particularly innovative or purposeful. The film may be the worst I have seen in many years. It was ridiculous and absurd