Thrillers are a darn fun genre, but not one is easy to crack. The ‘90s were filled with them after SE7EN and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and there is always the occasional movie that breaks through and gets everyone’s attention on the genre again and we go through the cycle again. Serial killer thrillers have always been great fodder for thrillers but so too have the neo-noirs, throwbacks to the golden age of Hollywood which mix mystery with technology. RESTORE POINT is such a film. A movie inspired by the past but with an eye on the very near future.
RESTORE POINT finds an officer in the not very distant future on the hunt for terrorists that are trying to take down a medical conglomerate. The terrorists are called Water of Life and they believe that humans should live but one life, and no more. This is a time when humans pay for ‘restore points’ that, when kept up to date, allow them to return to life with the memories of their previous restore point. To the terrorists this is unnatural and they will stop at nothing to bring attention to their cause, even going so far as holding hostages until their restore points have passed and killing them as a message. The officer is focused on hunting the terrorists down not only for what they are doing but for what they have done as well, having killed her husband in an earlier show of strength. On her hunt for the terrorists she discovers that one of the people behind the technology that allows for restore points has survived what was thought to be his murder and is now on the run. The officer is drawn into a conspiracy and must question who her real enemy is – the terrorists that killed her husband or the organization that promises a new lease on life but for a price.
This is a really good film, that has to be said first.
It’s a Czechoslovakian film so if you aren’t into subtitles well, sorry for ya. The technology is handled in a really great way that insinuates it into the society but doesn’t overwhelm things, as if the world is a high-tech utopia. The idea of the ‘save point’ is far-fetched but works well in the context of the film. Which is really one of the great parts of the film, that there is an ethical quandary at play beneath the intrigue.
The acting is very well done with the lead actress doing a really great job and holding the film down. It’s well directed and well written and while it may not get the attention it deserves it is a very good film.
Any movie with a conspiracy dances precariously on the edge of a razor and you either go along or you get caught up in the weeds. Even if you can figure out where the film is going it’s still a heck of a good ride and well worth a look if you can track it down.
4 out of 5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9362492
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