Reset (2017) [Film Review]

Reset; or, Time and Time Again

     Rainbow rangers transcend through time and space.

Time-travel flicks are always fun to watch, at least to me. When I saw the teaser trailer for Reset (a.k.a. Fatal Countdown: Reset) in early 2017, I knew that I couldn’t give this one a miss. However, a whole year passed and I somehow forgot about the film. Thankfully, I checked it out during Christmas time and now I’m ready to discuss this Chinese science fiction masterpiece.

Release Info

Directed by: Chang Starring: Yang Mi, Wallace Huo, Hummer Zhang, Liu Chang

Language: Mandarin Original Title: 逆时营救 Runtime: 106 min

 

Synopsis

It’s the year 2025. Various research labs across the globe are exploring the possibilities of travelling back in time to parallel universes. One of such facilities is the Nexus Corporation, which already performed experiments with animals. Xia Tian (Yang Mi), one of the project’s leading scientists, tries to divide her time between work and home as she is taking care of her small son Doudou (Hummer Zhang). All of a sudden, Doudou is kidnapped by a henchman from an American corporation (Wallace Huo) who orders Xia Tian to bring him all the research data or her son will die. Xia Tian complies, but Doudou is ruthlessly killed anyway. Devastated mother attempts to travel 1 hour and 50 minutes back in time so as to save her child.

 

Help yourself by helping yourself helping yourself

When the movie started, I wasn’t expecting anything exceptional. I was just hoping for a good film with forgivable CGI effects, but, oh boy... I’ve got say that Reset is actually gobsmackingly amazing! The thriller-like beginning already kept me on the edge of my seat. When Xia Tian jumped into this hub/gate portal, which disintegrates every human body cell… Like wow! Just talking about this movie makes me wanna go back in time and re-watch it again!

 

Everything in this movie is a near perfection: the script, well-crafted characters (even the supporting ones), performances, the special effects, and the music score. Director Chang (also known as Yoon Hong Seung) did a splendid job. In addition, this film was also produced by Jackie Chan. At first, I was like: Yeah... his company gave the money and he just slapped his name on the credits, but now I’m convinced that he must have had some input into the creative process.

 

In terms of performances, I know I shouldn’t write something like this in a review, but I can’t help it. I just fell in love with Yang Mi. Her performance of a mother willing to do whatever it takes to save her son is a triumph! Within the time span of about 40 minutes, she goes from Ellen Ripley in Alien (1979) to Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986) effortlessly! Her interpretation of Xia Tian makes her character one of the most tragic time travellers in movie history.

 

Additionally, Wallace Huo is a great addition as a bad-to-the-bone killer. I mean, this guy is willing to kill a kid and blow up the lab full of people just to get the job done. His motivation is eventually explained at the end of the movie (no spoilers here), but he’s still a very dark villain with many issues. Also, Hummer Zhang convincingly played Doudou (it’s always very hard to find a good child actor).

 

With regard to disadvantages... there are only three minutes of stupidity, just because the scriptwriters wanted to provide a double twist. Thankfully, the scene does not last long and it does not affect the overall reception.

 

Recommendations

If you enjoy time-travel movies, I strongly suggest that you jump into your DeLorean, buckle up, and check out Reset as you’re in for a great film (in fact, one of the best time-travel films). I can only hope that the Chinese will make more science fiction pictures (with Yang Mi starring in them). To sum up, Reset is an outstanding showpiece, which casts into the shadows Hollywood’s failed attempts to make outstanding stories with strong heroines.

Overall score: 8/10