Have you ever wished to have a twin? Maybe an evil twin? Or maybe you are the evil twin, whatever you prefer. Clone movies are a popular subgenre of science fiction that can give you a Hollywood-style glimpse of what it’s like to have someone around that looks exactly like you. From Cloud Atlas to Oblivion, you can explore the moral implications that naturally emerge in the plot.
Many movies about cloning deal with what it means to be human. Some others use clones to tell stories about identity and how genetics determine who we are as individuals. Other movies instead use clones as a way to explore the ethical implications of scientific research and its legal aspects. It’s a genre with a pretty long history despite the innovative topic; The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, released in 1971, is one of the first movies to depict the medical exploitation of cloning, even though the term was not explicitly used.
The idea of cloning is a controversial one, but there are some movies about clones made over the years that have raised some good questions and can help you decide for yourself if it's something you’d like to support or not. Here are some of the best films about clones!
This post may include affiliate links.
Logan
2017 | 2h 17m | Directed by James Mangold
Logan is a cinematic masterpiece, taking place in 2029 when Wolverine and an aging Charles Xavier are the last mutants around. It’s a dark film that showcases Hugh Jackman’s acting abilities, and it’s definitely not appropriate for kids. It has a serious tone and isn’t your typical “happy-go-lucky” hero flick, very much in the same vein as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.
Jurassic Park
1993 | 2h 7m | Directed by Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park, also known as Jurassic World, is a visually stunning adventure centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park inhabited by cloned dinosaurs. With its good share of action, Jurassic Park is also a thoughtful science fiction movie saga about the ethics of genetic engineering and how greed can be a dangerous motivator.
Moon
2009 | 1h 37m | Directed by Duncan Jones
In 2035, Sam Bell is the only astronaut operator on a Moon facility working to extract resources that can help Earth with its power problems. After three years spent completely alone, if not for the company of a talking computer, Sam is experiencing a personal crisis and starts hallucinating and questioning his own sanity. Things only get worse when he finds there’s a doppelganger of him in the facility.
The 6th Day
2000 | 2h 3m | Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
The title of the movie refers to the Genesis creation narrative, where God created mankind on the sixth day. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Adam Gibson, a man involuntarily cloned and involved in a vast conspiracy that will have to do everything he can to clear his name when the whole cloning experiment gets swept under the rug.
The Prestige
2006 | 2h 10m | Directed by Christopher Nolan
Written by the Nolan brothers, The Prestige follows the intense rivalship between two talented stage magicians. Both men are obsessed with creating the best illusion trick ever, even at the expense of sacrificing everything they have. The movie has been a commercial success at the box office, with two Academy Awards nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.
The Island
2005 | 2h 16m | Directed by Michael Bay
This escape-from-dystopia movie follows two clones living in a strictly ruled community. Together with other inhabitants, they are unknowingly kept imprisoned for organ harvesting and surrogate pregnancies by their wealthy sponsor, of whom they are clones. After realizing they’ve been kept in the dark all their lives, they attempt to escape and share the truth with the world.
Æon Flux
2005 | 1h 33m | Directed by Karyn Kusama
Based on an animated tv show by Peter Chung, the movie stars Charlize Theron as Æon Flux, a member of a group of revolutionaries aiming to overthrow the government. The film has a troubled history: director Kusama stated that, as soon as the filming ended, the studio fired her and heavily edited the movie, changing storylines and characters as they pleased, and then asked her to edit it again but not back to her original vision.
Multiplicity
1996 | 1h 57m | Directed by Harold Ramis
Nope, not every clone movie is a tragedy; they can also be funny! In this sci-fi comedy, Michael Keaton plays Doug Kinney, an overworked construction employee who agrees to create clones of himself so he can take a break from his hectic life and spend more time with his family. But things get chaotic when the clones begin to grow minds of their own and increase the number of problems for poor Doug.
Oblivion
2013 | 2h 4m | Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Based on an unpublished work by director Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion is set in a post-apocalyptic future where Earth has been devastated by aliens and survivors moved to the largest moon of Saturn. But not everything is as it seems, and when a human technician is sent back to Earth, he starts questioning who he is and what he knows about the events that led to the destruction of his home planet.
Monsters Vs. Aliens
2009 | 1h 34m | Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
In this animated movie, a woman becomes a giant when struck by a meteorite. Her new size makes her a valuable ally for the U.S. government, which sends her and other monsters to stop an alien mastermind trying to conquer the Earth. Monsters Vs. Aliens was the first computer-animated movie directly produced in a stereoscopic 3D format instead of being converted into 3D after completion. With a 175 million dollar budget, it’s also the most expensive animated movie not produced by Disney or Pixar.
Star Trek Nemesis
Worst Star Trek movie ever. The plot would have been more of an episode than a feature film.
Cloud Atlas
I wouldn't say it's specifically about clones - maybe the servers in the future scenes. But, way I understood it was being about the connections the soul could make through generations/different lives. The book was great, film not so much but films never live up to the readers take on a book. Some of it was filmed in Glasgow though.
