Review by Jamie M MacDonald
To fight against the ever-increasing desertification of our planet scientists have come up with a solution. They have found a way using drugs to speed up reproduction of plant life, but the same drug has also awoken emotions in plants. Now, the super plants see humans as the enemy, destroying cities and pushing human life to the brink of extinction! Globally the plants have taken route with only pockets of survivors remaining. The world authorities have set up command centres to fight against this threat. Yang Hao (Mickey He) and his daughter Yuan Yuan (Mingcan Zhang) have missed the city evacuation.
Restart the Earth is a very good ecological sci fi thriller that shines with seamless realistic CGI that mostly does impress; there are a few little iffy scenes. The creation of the plant B movie monster is quite something. The devastation of the cities that are overrun with vegetation looks amazing, plus you feel the constant threat from the rather nasty aggressive plant always. There are nice little nods to films such as Aliens. After a group on a mission come across Yang Hao and his daughter Yuan Yuan one of the soldiers has a motion sensor; he states the threat is ever near and should be on top of them now. This scene is full of tension and done so well. Not only do you need great effects and visuals for the film of this kind to work you also need a cast that can deliver and believe the situation that they’re thrown into. The film boasts class acting from all, especially from Mickey He and Mingcan Zhang as the father and daughter survivors they`re the heart of the film and easily steal each scene. The fights between the humans and the plants you would expect to look silly, but they don`t, there is a real threat and they`re exciting to watch. I am not going to spoil how that plant looks…
Written and directed by Lin Zhenzhao he understands the genre and delivers a well-paced film at just eighty-nine minutes. It does not hang about and flows very well. Yes, we have a motivational speech at the end from our reluctant hero, but that is something we needed, hope. After all they have been through to get close to completing their mission. The film is about survival and sacrifices made for survival. For me Restart the Earth was surprisingly good and so well worth the watch.
