In 2041, a technology has been developed that allows anyone who dies an unnatural death to be brought back to life through a device known as Restore Point. After a couple is murdered and their restore points are erased by a terrorist organization known as The River of Life, Detective Em Trochinowska (Andrea Mohylová) discovers that the case may not be so black and white. An ever-increasing number of citizen’s restore points are being deleted. This leads her on a life-and-death race against the clock, uncovering overwhelming political and corporate corruption.
Detective Trochinowska is no stranger to coverups or corruption. Her husband was murdered by The River of Life along with 49 other people, and yet the story the public was told was that they all survived. She is the strong-willed “good cop,” trying her best to avoid the ethical gray area that civilization has inevitably entered when you begin to allow people to be brought back to life. What is murder when someone can be simply restored? What does it mean to be human?
“…a technology has been developed that allows anyone who dies an unnatural death to be brought back to life…”
Director and co-writer Robert Hloz masterfully builds the world where the characters live and clarifies the rules for this life-saving technology. It doesn’t go very far into the exact science of how the technology of reviving dead people works, but it does explain the workings of using the technology. The script is tight, and each scene drives the plot and develops its characters. It organically unfolds as you’re watching it, eliminating the stereotypical scene where one person explains how everything works. It trusts its audience to be patient and do a little detective work of their own without being too high-brow so as to be pretentious. Cough, cough, Tenet, Cough, cough.
Sharing themes and ideas from Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow, In Time, Blade Runner, and Blade Runner 2049, Restore Point remains firmly planted in reality. The environment doesn’t feel fantastical. Its color pallet and subtle use of CGI for city landscapes make this future seem familiar and likely. Whether that is a budgetary reason or not, it works to the film’s advantage.
It’s rare these days to watch a movie and feel that you are being taken care of by the filmmaker, who is trying to show you something expertly put together. A film that has a consistent tone and doesn’t sacrifice it for a cheap laugh. A film that has something to say, in this case, about technology and societal utopias, without preaching to its audience or being divisive. If only Hollywood would make movies like Restore Point. They’d probably ruin it, but let’s hope American cinema can be brought back to life.