Restless Movie Review: Predictable crime drama that fails to utilise its potential

Restless (Sans répit) is a French remake of the 2014 South Korean film, A Hard Day. It is one of those crime/thriller/drama films that possesses a fairly watchable and interesting first half, with the narrative falling by the wayside of mediocrity, thereafter. This said mediocrity finds itself evenly distributed along the lines of predictability and melodrama. Granted, the theme of corrupt cops, wanted drug dealers, blackmail and cover-ups, is a crowded one prone to cliché, but the premise, set in the aforementioned milieu, started off strong, holding the attention and raising expectations. The writers, director and cast have put in considerable work to make things look realistic up to a certain point, but the mounting conflict and its subsequent resolution are handled very poorly, leading to the story’s eventual implosion.

Director – Régis Blondeau 

Cast – Franck Gastambide, Simon Abkarian, Michaël Abiteboul, Tracy Gotoas

Streaming On – Netflix

Thomas (Franck Gastambide) is a less-than-stellar cop belonging to a division under investigation for corruption. On the night of an Internal Affairs raid on his office, he is seen speeding towards an unknown destination. His mother is about to be placed in a casket, as his sister and daughter wait for him at the funeral parlour. Back at the station, his partner Marc (Michaël Abiteboul) and intern Naomi (Tracy Gotoas) scramble to destroy the bribe money Thomas has stashed away in his locker. Under intense stress already, he swerves to avoid hitting a dog, only to crash into a man who bounces off his windshield mere metres ahead. Where the man appeared from remains a mystery. He conceals the body in the boot of his car before checking for eyewitnesses. Thomas’s crooked cop brain goes into overdrive as he hatches a crazy plan to bury the body inside his mother’s coffin at the funeral home. He gets into a deliberate accident the next day to establish a credible alibi. But that’s the thing about such outlandish efforts to cover up a major crime…it comes back to haunt you in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine. CCTV footage of the hit-and-run, an unknown blackmailer who’s aware of even the minutest details, and a highly suspicious partner, stare Thomas in the face.

As bizarre and convoluted as the plot sounds, the makers exert control over the narrative for the initial forty-five minutes. The first half of the plot is engaging, with some exception here and there. The pacing and build-up of tension in this period raise hopes of something revelatory, something worth investing in, and that is why this is a curious film. For the events on screen to nose-dive from that point, failing to sustain the work put in thus far, make for disappointing viewing. It goes from a fairly plausible story to a melodramatically ludicrous one in no time. Genre cliches abound, as the viewer can see the next scene coming from a mile away.

Rather watchable it may be in the beginning, though you can’t help but question some parts. For instance, for all his street smarts as a police officer, how does Thomas miss something as fundamental as searching the man (for his phone, wallet and other items) before stuffing him into his boot? The phone rings inside the nailed coffin, and that’s when he realises the error. Marelli (Simon Abkarian) storming into the station to physically assault Thomas, deliberately mistaking him for someone else, only to make his intentions to the latter clear, was way over-the-top. Wouldn’t such a high-ranking officer play his hand in a smarter, less public manner? The subsequent fight scene in the bathroom between the two takes place conveniently, with no one from the outside suspecting a thing, let alone staging an immediate intervention. These are seasoned/corrupt cops we’re speaking of, right? This scene lays the groundwork for all the avoidable nonsense to follow. Instead of the rollercoaster of clichés, the film could have explored the complexity of Thomas and Marc’s questionable choices better. Apart from two brief sequences (one in the locker room when their exchange pertaining to the bribes gets personal, and the other in the car as Marc tells a handcuffed Thomas that he will return everything, and come clean), their grey characters aren’t accorded adequate meaning. In the magnitude of misdeeds, the duo’s infractions are lower on the totem pole, but as upholders of the law, once you get pulled to the dark side, there is no coming back! That is perhaps Restless’ larger message, or the one I gleaned. Sadly, wasted potential is all the film manages to be in the end.