When a preview of the new science fiction Point of Recovery appeared a few months ago, not only in our editorial office we were quite surprised and quite excited by the first shots. In the Czech pond, where we are used to dull romantic comedies or semi-amateurisms from the workshop of Tomáš Magnusko, we would not expect the visually and trick-confident vision of the future that we got in the trailers. The new film from the debuting director Robert Hloz simply caught our attention, reminded us of classics such as Blade Runner or Minority Report and gave us hope that a strong genre film can be created in our country too. Did the creators really manage to serve us a decent piece in the end, or does the result seem even more ridiculous?
This brings us to the year 2041, when humanity has figured out how to outwit death. It is enough for a person to back up his personality at least once every 48 hours, the so-called restoration point, and in the event of an unnatural death he can be revived. But as it happens, not everyone recognizes the revolutionary technology and there is also a terrorist organization that wants to sabotage the creators’ efforts. And then there’s Agent Em, who is dealing with a powerful personal loss and is called to a very unusual double murder case. The basic rules of the recovery point were violated in this case, and the already complicated case will soon become even more complicated for Em.
Even after the trailers, I was worried whether the authors would be able to sell their sci-fi vision in the entire film, or whether we would end up with just a few grateful shots from the trailers. Fortunately, my fears did not come true and Bod obnovy is (not only) by Czech standards a self-confident and mature project with excellent visuals, the design of individual buildings and gadgets, a great set, decent tricks and almost Hollywood music. From a visual point of view, the creators manage to win with every detail and can skilfully convert well-known Prague buildings into their vision of the future, and in the second half they deal nicely with budget limits. In the same way, the direction manages to work nicely with the pace and a properly cool atmosphere.
However, especially in the first third, Bod obnovy is a joy to look at, and it’s simply nice to see that a damn engaging and visually quite intoxicating spectacle can be created in our country, which can easily be placed alongside small foreign sci-fi films and will definitely not embarrass itself. A year ago, I would not have guessed that I would write something similar about a domestic film.
However, when one stops loving the great craftsmanship and the surprisingly nourishing visual side after a while, one has to start paying attention to the story itself. And here, unfortunately, it is no longer such a big miracle. It is known that Hloz has an honest look at science fiction and borrows more or less inspiration wherever he can. At the same time, however, he cannot turn it into a sufficiently catchy or at least slightly original result. The film is actually quite simple in its detective plot, at least from the middle it is too predictable and in the very end it is already too B-level and not entirely clever. The screenwriters are not trying to create a new Blade Runner here, but even so, the absence of a more thought-out story freezes.
Unfortunately, the dialogues also rustle with paper in certain passages, and the otherwise pleasant cast sometimes struggles with them. Hádek and Neužil play their nice standard, even though the latter in particular just fills a very clichéd box. Andrea Mohylová then bet on a cold or detached approach, as is often the case with science fiction. Paradoxically, this is precisely why most viewers find it difficult to find their way to it.
Play Trailer Point of Recovery is a clear example of form winning over content, but it still deserves the proverbial thumbs up. And especially for the courage and sovereignty with which the creators showed in domestic conditions that it is possible here too. In this way, they created a film that does not seem cheap, amateurish or ridiculous even for a moment, but manages to impress with several of its attributes. Only Hloz et al. in the same way as the vision of the future, to devote to the scenario itself, which could simply be played on. But if there are more and more similarly bold and fresh initiatives, I will only be happy.
You can watch MZ Live about the Recovery Point here:
2023-09-20 15:00:00
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