«The Reconstruction Of William Zero» A Review

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TROWZ miniWilliam , a respected geneticist wakes up from a coma after suffering an accident. With the help of his twin brother Edward, William struggles to literally get back on his feet and try to recover from amnesia, something that also brings back the memory of the death of his son and the end of his marriage.

When digging for more clues of his past and trying to reconnect with his wife Jules, William starts to suspect that his brother is not telling him the whole truth. Without knowing, his search for answers starts to uncover a plot that might not make his employers happy, and will force Edward to take drastic measures to make sure his secret stays safe.

ZERO_1 miniOK, the idea behind “The Reconstruction Of William Zero” as a Sci-fi thriller is very interesting by itself, and without using big budgets it brings a cool debate of what we could define as “Identity” and the attachment as individuals that we possess as a consequence of it. There are not a lot of special effects on this film, and the way I see it, there was no need for them, since the strength of this movie can be found on the story and it’s pacing.

I don’t think there is a person that won’t see the twist on this movie coming, since few minutes from the start, the true nature of William is revealed, and I think that was a wise move. Once we get pass that, we can focus more on Andrew and his plans, which also gives us the chance to truly appreciate Conal Byrne’s acting on this dual (?) role. On a related note, there is a couple subplots that let us try to understand the motives behind the actions of some characters, and while we might not agree with them, at least we have a chance to empathize with them, and even debate of who actually deserves a second chance on this weird game we call life.

ZERO_3 miniWhile I enjoyed the acting as a whole, I found one character very annoying, with an unrealistic “Bad though cop” attitude that I though it belonged more on a comedy (think “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”) than a thriller, but at least he is not in the movie that much.

The plot, unfortunately, even though had good pacing, It felt kinda heavy at some point, and gave me an ending that I wasn’t completely happy with. I can’t go too much in to details since it goes to a Spoiler territory (although you can see my notes on that at the end of the post) but let’s just say that I’m more of the “Work it to earn it” idea, and the last act I felt was kinda messed up, done in that way just to get a happy ending (Happy to who? That’s a question I will leave for you to find out).

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The film was directed by Dan Bush (The Signal) and co-written with Conal Byrne, who plays the lead(s). As Jules we have Amy Seimetz (“The Sacrament”, “You’re Next”, “A Horrible Way to Die”) AJ Bowen (“You’re Next”, “The Sacrament”) and we can catch Melissa McBride (“Carol” in the TV show “The Walking Dead”) as one of William’s Bosses.

The film is a nice, slow burn, with not much action, but as a thriller might be a nice choice to watch on a rainy day or when you loved one is not in the mood for a gory flick. Worth the watch.

Verdict 3.5/5
“The Reconstruction Of William Zero” hits VOD and selected theaters on April 10th.

 

 

OK…. From this point on, there will be Spoilers, you have been warned, proceed at your own risk…

Let’s get this out the way… There are clones, one original, another not so much, and a clone times 2 (you do the math).

There are some holes in the plot that got me thinking for a couple of days and therefore I could not give this film a higher rating, which I’ll say again IS NOT a bad film, and it’s worth watching a couple of times, is just that to me, “the math does not add up“

For starters, I can get behind the idea of implanting memories on a clone in a matter of weeks. But the fact that the clone can also get the knowledge of advance genetic studies at DOCTORATE degree? Not even in Star Wars was possible for the clone troopers! And let’s not forget, Kamino’s people were Good Cloners!

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Second, although is true that the film managed to not set a date when the story was taking place (check the technology, as far as I could tell there are cellphones, but old style computers, and I don’t remember any talk about internet) I found hard to believe that one person could stay under the radar for so long, without any money o using credit cards, let alone that at the end of the story, we are not clear of what identity is one character using, in a manner that he could live without worrying about the consequences of previous events.

I can see that my rant might seem weird, but once you see the film it will make sense, if you get the chance to check it out, feel free to share your thoughts.

And thanks for reading!

 
 
 


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