Czech cyber-thriller Restore Point is hard sci-fi built to knock your socks off

Restore Point. // Courtesy XYZ Films

If you’re a fan of sci-fi filmmaking, you know that bigger doesn’t always mean better in terms of creating a futuristic setting. Sci-fi is a conceptual genre, and that means there needs to be something to attach your curiosity to — we’re not talking about vague MacGuffins or uprisings led by horny teenagers. Good science fiction is about ideas, and ideas don’t have to be backed by a big studio, or the accompanying budget. This is what makes writer-director Robert Hloz’s indie debut feature, Restore Point, out now on VOD, such a refreshing departure from most current offerings in its genre. 

By the year 2041, the Czech Republic is in a state of panic. Crime has risen to astronomical levels, with murders constantly on the rise. To stem public fears, the government enacts a policy giving everyone access to experimental Restore Point technology, a system that can hold a backup of the last 48 hours of someone’s life. 

Should you die an unnatural death (i.e. get murdered), you can be brought back to life with little trouble, as long as you remember to save your memories to the cloud once per day. Of course, not everyone’s a fan. As soon as the tech becomes common practice, a shadowy terrorist organization called the River of Life begins a violent campaign against this “unholy” life extension.

Detective Em Trochinowská (Andrea Mohylová), is a cop in the Rick Deckard mold. She’s got past trauma and doesn’t work well with others. Trochinowská finds herself embroiled in the Restore Point controversy when she’s called to investigate the murder of its inventor, David Kurlstat (Matêj Hádek). In addition to an icky crime scene, Kurlstat’s backup has been destroyed, meaning he can’t be revived. 

That fact gets complicated when Kurlstat reappears, brought back by an experimental drive that restores a version of him from six months before his death. Trochinowská and Kurlstat reluctantly team up to find out who’s behind a mounting number of un-restorable murders, and uncover a twisty conspiracy in the process.

Restore Point. // Courtesy XYZ Films

As you may have noticed from the above synopsis, Restore Point plays with a lot of cyberpunk tropes, resulting in an end product that feels both familiar and unique. It’s Strange Days, Minority Report, Ghost In The Shell and Gattaca blended and run through a Czech filter (these are the folks who invented the word “robot,” after all, credit where it’s due), and made for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what a studio picture costs. 

Hloz’s movie is lean, clever, idea-driven filmmaking that, like all good sci-fi, uses its story to consider larger more thought-provoking topics. Restore Point covers death, the privatization of public entities, terrorism and the police state. Those ideas are made more concrete and dramatic thanks to a smart script and solid acting. 

In addition to all this, Restore Point’s world building is truly impressive, making a fully-realized metropolis and realistic-looking digital interfaces on an indie budget (for the record, here that means just under $2 million — yes, you’re allowed to drop your jaw). Massive ornate skyscrapers stretch to the heavens. Digital newspapers and billboards leap to life. Self-driving cars and jalopies alike are decked with futuristic readouts. It’s a living breathing world just far enough in the future to seem likely. 

With a VOD release in a market crowded with options, a smaller international film like Restore Point can easily fly under the radar. That feels like a shame. Had it emerged in the early aughts when studios were looking for the next big idea, it might have built up a cult following. Hopefully with enough word of mouth, the latter is still possible. Hloz’s film has the makings of a legitimate genre classic, or at the very least a career worth watching closely.

Restore Point opens nationwide on Feb. 8, 2024.

Restore Point. // Courtesy XYZ Films