‘Sans répit‘ is a French action thriller directed by Régis Blondeau who also co-wrote the film along with Julien Colombani. It was released in North America on the Netflix streaming service under the title of ‘Restless.’ It was made by Bright Lights Films, Mahi Films, and Umedia and is based in the South Korean film ‘A Hard Day.’

Thomas (Franck Gastambide) is a corrupt French cop who, along with his partner Marc (Michaël Abiteboul) and Naomi (Tracy Gotoas) swiped cash from a drug bust. As IA raids their police station, Thomas is driving to witness his recently deceased mom being put in a casket. He hits a body and in a panic, hides the body in mother’s casket. Thinking he in the clear, he is approached by the corrupt head of narcotics Marelli (Simon Abkarian), who roughs him up and tells him to get the corpse or he will hurt his family. With hours to go, Thomas must figure out a way to get the body before his life is destroyed.

The acting is competent. I cannot really complain about the performances. I especially liked Jemima West as Agathe, Thomas’ sister. No one was really stand out, but for the type of movie that it is, I thought everyone did a decent job.

Bland is one way to describe the plot. The movie just chugs along with no style or pizzazz. It is billed as an “action thriller,” there were barely any thrills. I cannot compare to the source material as I am unfamiliar, but I cannot imagine this French remake as being suitable.

I will say, this is another example of my complaint about modern French films and European cinema in general. There was no character development. You are just kind of thrust into a story with a bunch of unlikable characters. No one was decent enough to root for in this film. Sure, they tried to redeem Thomas a bit by showing he is a good father, but it was not really enough for me to hope that he makes it out of this situation with any sense of reward.

The film attempts to show that harsh consequences can happen to the corrupt, but it falls short with how the nihilism steeped in the conclusion. No one learns anything. No one grows. It is just bad people doing bad things with bad consequences, but they keep being bad. The reward Thomas gets at the end is completely unearned from all the actions he caused.

Bottom line, Restless is a bland action film with nothing to offer a viewer in the way of entertainment.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Strong foul language

FAVORITE QUOTE: You’re asking a lot.

Check out the trailer below:

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