Replay (2003)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Just what I expected

Fresh and Exciting

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I've been thinking a lot about what makes a movie good, or better, what makes it likable. It seems there are all sorts of paths into likability. The emotional engagement, the world that surrounds it, the titillation, the challenge. Sometimes it is not the movie itself at all, but the memory of it. Or. Or the idea of it. Mel Gibson's Jesus movie was a success based on the idea of the thing. All the movie itself had to do was support that idea. So-called puzzle movies fit this. Now here's the interesting question. "Irreversible" and "Memento" were powerfully engaging. ("Irreversible" is a puzzle movie much deeper than the other.) Do we like these because they used the puzzle to trick us into engaging? Or is it the other way around?Do we like "Timecode" because it requires investment and we make it, or because the idea of the thing is so cool we get the thrill from ideasurfing?This movie is an odd one. It just barely misses. I'm tempted to think that with a different voice-over tone and script it would be a cult hit. It seems to have already gone through some re-engineering. I've seen the DVD version and it sounds as if the original version was a bit more risky and to my taste.What you have here is what I call a completely folded film. A simple folded case would be a movie that has a movie within it and the two reinforce each other in some way. In this case, all we see, 100 per cent, is the movie within, literally many (I didn't count 21) surveillance cameras filming one short sequence: a robbery and four deaths.We hear but never see two detectives and occasional buddies watching these and teasing out the hidden solution. There's only one red herring and it isn't a very complex mystery. The adjustment for the DVD seems to have made the solution easier, and that's a shame.It is a very, very cool idea, though, cool enough for me to value it worth watching. The idea is the thing here. The movie, well it has some deficiencies. But among them surely isn't the editing.You know, bad editing is something that kills a movie without the viewer knowing why. On the other hand, it can be a silent goddess charming you into the thing. The poor quality of the video, the uninspired voice-over, the simple mystery. All these things are largely overlooked because of the way the engaging camera angles, the obvious voyeurism, and the clever editing draw us in."Snake Eyes" may be the coolest of this type. This could be the "Cube" of this genre.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

As a native of Baltimore, I had to go see a film which was made locally. One of the local second run theaters was featuring this film. I went in not really knowing what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. Note, if you plan to see the film, make sure to get to the showing ahead of time, as the film gets off with a bang right from the start.What I enjoyed about this film's mystery, was the approach of solving the crime from watching the security tapes. I couldn't say if there were 21 cameras involved, but certainly we see the crime go down from every imaginable angle. As two detectives are watching the tapes, things start off kind of slow, but as the night wears on, the intensity surrounding the viewing of the tapes builds and builds. In the audience, I was finding myself trying to figure things out right along with them.I can't finish this commentary without mentioning the humor. Most of the joke lines went by before I realized they were funny. Then when it struck me, the film had already moved on and I had to focus back to the plot. It may be worth watching again, just to make sure I catch all the humor.

I saw "Replay" on video at a friend's house. I hadn't been planning to watch a movie, but I came in just as it was beginning, and didn't leave my seat until the film was over.I was watching it on a TV screen, just like the cops were. The people who saw it in the theatre liked it, and I'd love to see it that way, but it certainly works well on the small screen. I found myself talking back to the cops as they made assumptions, interpreted movements, gathering and discarding as they groped toward a solution.I didn't find myself being as detached as one previous reviewer, though I can see the detachment theme. Surveillance films are distant by nature, but they are only a starting point here, as are the cops. What this film is about is how observers try to separate themselves from what's observed, and the successes and failures inherent in that. Through the whole film I was more and more drawn in, and the magnet was the human beings on the screen. The mundane nature of the presentation of violence only accented the human price of the crime.

I caught this movie last night at DCIFF. I found it very original and intriguing. You basically see about 4 different scenes, but they are replayed from different angles and the writing brings out something new in each scene each time. The plot is strong and the acting is well also.I couldn't help thinking while watching the movie that it reminded me of a cross between Momento and Mystery Science Theater 3000. The detectives commentary on the video tapes they were watching was very funny.Overall, this is a very good and very well done movie.