Repeaters

In Mission City, Kyle Halsted (Dustin Milligan), Sonia Logan (Amanda Crew) and Michael "Mike" Weeks (Richard de Klerk) are interned in a rehabilitation facility run by Bob Simpson (Benjamin Ratner). One Wednesday, they have a pass to go outside the site and Kyle visits his sister Charlotte Halsted (Alexia Fast) at the Mission Secondary School but she does not talk to him. Sonia goes to the hospital where her father is terminal, but she does not visit him. Mike visits his father at the Maximum Security Correctional Facility where he is prisoner and the man does not talk to Mike. During the night, there is a storm and Kyle, Sonia and Mike have electrical shocks and on the next morning, they awaken on the same day. When they realize that the Wednesday is repeating over and over again, their first reaction is to have fun with dangerous situations. Soon Kyle and Sonia disclose secrets and they decide to use the days to resolve personal issues mending their lives. But Mike decides to route through a criminal life believing that on the next morning, everything would be over. A couple of months ago, I started watching "Repeaters" on DVD with family and friends at home and we decided to stop. Today I have just watched alone and despite the old storyline of many other movies, I found a great story of redemption of youths that have the chance to rethink their lives and mend their lives. Unfortunately there is an awful twist in the last scene that I prefer to ignore. The question is, what would the writer and the director be thinking including such stupid last scene? A sequel? My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Labirinto do Tempo" ("Time Labyrinth")

Repeaters is really well made and introduces us to some great new actors who do a fine job, but nevertheless it ends up being a rather long 90 minutes as this twisted version of Groundhog Day doesn't really take advantage of the opportunities but instead resorts to typical psycho horror with a lot of spaghetti sauce flying out of people's backs and splashing on the walls. Instead of a TV news reporter, it's a group of three troubled youth who get caught in a time loop, at first going on rampages in order to take advantage of the lack of consequences their situation affords, but then two of them struggle with the moral issues and want to find a way out of the repeating day, as their friend goes nuts and decides to be as evil as he can because it will all be erased when he wakes up to the same morning again. At first Repeaters comes off as a flashy Primer, but it eventually loses its intellectual properties for the sake the action and suspense. I really didn't get the whole bit about escaping the time loop by making amends with people, but I guess that might be looked at as a reference to AA. Repeaters is an okay movie, it just goes on a little too long and doesn't offer any great twist at the end.

What a waste of a good premise. A time loop where people live the same day, over and over again. 12.01 was excellent. Thought provoking, intelligent. Ground Hog Day was with Bill Murray contained his dry humour, was very good. But this poor excuse??????????. I cannot understand why this film got any positive reviews at all.????? Foul language and moronic scenes of younger people doing moronic things because they know they will get away with it due to re- living everyday the same. And that was this film. I was hoping for an intelligent script, no chance. Anybody with half a brain stay away from this movie.

Three delinquents experience the same day over and over again. So what do they do? Not much, really. The key is "Carston! Seven thirty." And so we go again. But from this enjoyable concept nothing clever or insightful ensues, and we end up with a midwestern family values story. Just like that other movie, but without Bill Murray's delightful cynicism. What would it be like to live without consequences for your actions? A bit dull, mostly miserable, do the same. So, not much different from real life, which technically makes this a documentary. This really needed some perverse behaviour from the characters, however foul according to the taste of the intended audience. Without the perversity it simply failed to explore the concept. The good guys were good, the bad guy was bad. Completely dull. Pace, direction, editing all excellent, but concept cooked as flat as a pancake. I did like the actress with her slopey nose and woolly hat.

This film had a promising premise, but the potential fell short in every department. There was an entertaining enough plot to keep me watching the film, yet it was simultaneously frustrating enough for me to consider whether I should quit whilst ahead. In the end a forgettable experience. Repeating a day over and over, as we have seen in groundhog day, gives great opportunities for laughs. The comedy in this film, unfortunately is without the wit or charm of Bill Murray's classic. The acting is of a reasonable standard, but just short of the bar such that we don't believe the characters enough to really feel any of their emotions. The story distinguishes itself from groundhog day in its pursuit of a thrilling, rather than funny series of events, for the most-part at least. Scenes of what ought to be careless destruction are belied by what I assume to be constraints of budget. Oh whoopee! we can do whatever we want.... let's write on the mirror with a bit of lipstick. You'll forgive me if I fail to gasp. The characters are shallow and badly drawn, downright ridiculous at times - especially the antagonist whose actions are often difficult to swallow. There is some sense of a philosophical message that is underpinning the storyline, but there is nothing original here either, still it adds depth to the proceedings and does the movie no harm. Tense scenes will leave you unsatisfied, and sometimes annoyed. There are moments where I really began to care about the main characters and their lives, the dialogue was believable for a time and I was being sucked in to the story. Suddenly the antagonist would make an appearance like the villain in a pantomime play and more silliness would ensue. Watchable with a new aspect on the groundhog day concept, don't expect more.

Repeaters is a film about three drugs addicts in a clinic who all got one evening at the same time an electrical shock, after which that same day repeats for them several times. Each one of them has issues: Kyle sees his younger sister sliding down the same road he went, Sonia was abused by her father who will die that day, but whom she still needs to say goodbye too, and Michael, whose dad is in jail because of him, and doesn't want to talk to him. While in the beginning they enjoy the freedom this repeating day gives, they all follow their own path in the end. The comparison with Groundhog Day, a movie with a similar idea, is quickly made. But where that film with Bill Murray is a comedy, this one has a more serious tone. It's not about the idea of repeating days, but about the way people interact in such a condition. We see Michael, who was bullied before, rise up from his underdog position and transform into a bully himself, as an opposite to both Sonia and Kyle, who amend their ways. The acting wasn't the best I've seen, but still OK. I found it a fresh look at the idea Groundhog Day gave us. A nice movie to watch, and I surely enjoyed it, but I wouldn't watch it a second time like I would with Groundhog Day. If you're into movies like The Butterfly Effect, Groundhog day and such, go watch this one and enjoy. If you are just interested by the idea of repeating days and what you would do with it, better watch Groundhog Day.

This remake of Groundhog Day has some things to recommend it. It is not the greatest movie ever made, and it is skating the clichés. You have to have some guts to remake a big successful movie, and work the clichés and not drop into crap movie territory. This movie remains a good solid flick. It takes advantage firstly of an implicit nondescript but plaintive Canadian tone, which reminded me of Atom Egoyan's 'Exotica' or 1989's 'Roadkill.' It looks American, but little things scream that it isn't. Interesting, and this kept the film from becoming hackneyed and obvious. On top of this, I thought solid acting from the 3 leads and supporting actors, especially Alexia Fast, allowed some of this peculiar non-American tone of introspection to surface. The three leads all had clear trajectories, and I think de Klerk really anchored them. The acting was not over the top and it stayed forlorn and gritty, even when two characters are redeemed. It is likely that the characters have already left the mortal plane, at the beginning of the film, so their experiences are basically spiritual - but their mortal free will remains. I thought they could have gone deeper with the purgatory idea - especially the day after Sonia comes back the first time. It would have been intriguing to pursue de Klerk's descent. Instead of going deeper into what was happening on a spiritual level, the director opted to keep the action going, and keep the film clipping along at a good pace. What it lost in depth, it gained somewhat in some good physical acting between de Klerk and Milligan. Milligan in particular settled by the end of the film into the central role, a kind of scrapped up gilded hero that made him really look like Hollywood star material. But I don't think he could have gotten there without de Klerk, Crew and Fast supporting him. Crew did a very nice job of opening up. Her intimate scenes with Milligan were extremely well done - touching and not contrived. They cultivated some gentleness and actual on screen chemistry. She faced a similar connundrum to Heather Donahue in 'Blair Witch' - a low grade wardrobe role where a girl with the same hat on all the way through has to become the psychological and emotional catalyst for two males. All in all, some choppy bits, but a good enough film that got the job done. It could have been deeper, could have been more big budget and glossier, but frankly only the former would have made the pretty good performances here even better.

This was great.. a good idea adapted well. Engaging performances from all concerned, good pace and character development. I really can't fault it in any way. I was completely drawn in, only "surfacing" from the film occasionally to enjoy how much I was enjoying the film. The soundtrack/score was fantastic, mellow and emotive, which for me is a huge part of a film. had it been a rock/punk soundtrack I might not have enjoyed it as much and yet somehow I would have expected that to be the choice.. I think the trailer tried to emphasize the excitement, but there was much more to the film. Something about it reminds me of Rivers Edge (1986), but not sure why. If I could find a film like this once a week I'd be in heaven.

Interesting concept, maybe, but the movie itself? NOT!!! This is one of those films where I'm sure it sounded good while the producers and directors were discussing the general concept, but once it came time to actually shoot scenes and compile a film, it just didn't quite come together. That's what Repeaters is, in my humble opinion. Maybe as a sci-fi thriller novel, this could have worked, but trying to convey this story into a film experience just comes off as being absurdly confusing, and for the most part, not even a slim chance of visualizing this story as somehow being plausible. Sorry . . . just didn't quite cut it. If anything, viewing "Repeaters" should not be repeated, anywhere, unless one is hoping to utilize this nonentity of a film as some sort of weird gag / comedy item, but even with that revised attempt to give the film a second chance, it doesn't make it, just comes off being flat and monotonous. 3 stars (and that's being charitable)

The movie start off a little bit cheesy and trys to skip the intro and go straight to the action. But as the movie goes on you will get sucked into it and you will wonder to yourself were did the time go. The concept of being able to do anything and have no consequences (positive or negative) is just so captivating and they do a good job of keep the suspenses up. If your into slow movie that take hours to get to the point then this is not for you, if anything the paste is a bit to fast. Still i was so captivated by this movie that i half to give it a 10/10. I wasn't bored at all.