A surprisingly familiar plot leads to a satisfying conclusion with “Replay,” from the guys who brought us “40 Seconds.” What we have here is a virtual reality game gone wrong, which sounds pretty familiar. Granted, this is the plotline of about a half a dozen other movies–anyone remember “Brainscan”? “Arcade”? Maybe “Subterano”? Or even just “Stay Alive”? However, the heroines–a pair of what looks like preteen girls–do inject a note of originality into the proceedings.
Okay, it’s not half bad. Sure, the plot is a bit of a retread and half the cast is at least a smidge obnoxious and there’s plot holes in this sucker like no tomorrow that probably could have been solved with just a little more run time especially if they hadn’t wasted time on cheap symbolism…but still. Not half bad. Not half bad is an excellent descriptor of “Replay”.
What’s missing is pretty bad. There’s some pretty huge holes in this plot, like I said. But what’s there is a nice little burst of action and a little bit of suspense, topped with a solid (if somewhat predictable) twist ending. I can live with this, and you should be able to too. A movie that starts and ends so quickly you could actually watch the whole thing between the time you brush your teeth in the morning and the time you go to work has a certain appeal. I know–I tried it.
All in all, I mean it when I say not half bad. I would have liked to see this little fella in feature length form but I’ll take what I can get.
