‘Restore Point’ Review – A Flawed, Visual Wonder Of The Future
Chris Sawin
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In Central Europe, in the year 2041, inequality across the nation has led to an increase in violent crime. With fear at an all-time high, a new technology emerges that will allow anyone using it the ability to come back to life after an unnatural death. This technology is called Restore Point.
Restore Point’s one setback is that users have to backup every 48 hours. If you fail to do so, then the technology is useless, and you die for real. A married couple is murdered, and neither has an active backup file. As Detective Trochinowska (Andrea Mohylova) is investigating the case, the husband of the deceased couple bafflingly emerges alive and well.
Godzilla: Minus One had impressive enough visual effects to get nominated for an Oscar. The film would gross $105.4 million on a $10-$15 million budget. In contrast, Restore Point is a Czech film with a budget of less than $2 million. While the film isn’t being released in theaters domestically, it doesn’t take away from the fact that its visuals are awe-inspiring for such a low-budget film.
Restore Point is the first feature-length film for most of the behind-the-scenes crew, including co-writer and director Robert Hloz as well as co-writers Tomislav Cecka and Zdenek Jecelin.
The visual effects in the film were created by a European VFX studio called Magic Lab. Magic Lab contributed to Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune, and Argylle. Restore Point features voice-activated and self-driving cars, hologram playback of video calls, and physical newspapers with digital text among many other futuristic tech that doesn’t seem all that unrealistic in today’s world.
The sci-fi neo-noir combines solid special effects with beautiful cinematography — and it is genuinely exceptional — but that’s where the charm of Restore Point wears off. The secondary storyline of the film sees Detective Trochinowska targeting The River of Life; a terrorist group that killed her husband. Now Trochinowska does nothing but work and try to stop them.
But it’s as if the film’s writers got the mystery part of noir memorized and completely overlooked the intrigue. There’s no good fight sequence in the film; the most action is seeing Trochinowska fumble, fall to the ground, and shoot a gun once or twice. There are no car or foot chases. Nothing is exciting whatsoever in Restore Point. You watch people drive from one location to another and then talk while sitting. If you’re lucky, they may even stand up while talking.
The acting is rather wooden, as well. None of the performances are bad per se, especially for a small film with mostly first-time feature filmmakers doing this. But there’s a lack of emotion to sell deceased spouses or being in agony because they were brought back to life.
It’s fascinating that bigger film studios are releasing all of these films with inflated budgets when smaller films have less to work with and have better-looking effects than blockbuster productions.
Restore Point has a fantastic concept that is both timely and creative — not to mention an absolute eye candy regarding its visuals.
However, Restore Point struggles to be worth more than its flashy special effects. The film drags in its storytelling, and the cast tries to out-bore one another as their line delivery lacks charisma.
Restore Point is a gorgeous vision of the future that lacks depth, a worthwhile story, and heartfelt performances.
NEXT: ‘Monolith’ Review – The Brick That Keeps On Giving
Restore Point (2023), XYZ Films
PROS
- Incredible CGI and visual effects.
CONS
- Over 2 hours, it feels like nothing happens.
- Robotic performances.
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