Restraint (2008)

Overrated and overhyped

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It just goes to show what innovative filmmakers can do with a few well-chosen locations, an old country house, three good actors and a clever script."Restraint" works with simple ingredients, a guy and girl on the run from the law end up in an isolated house in the country. They take prisoner the strange occupant of the house and hold him to ransom. But all is not as it seems and as the story unfolds, we find ourselves watching a film that Hitchcock or Polanski may not have disowned.Teresa Palmer and Travis Fimmel play the two fugitives, Dale and Ron. Impulsive Ron is the type of guy who always brings trouble to himself and those around him. His girlfriend Dale has experienced the rougher side of life, but when they take prisoner the wealthy, but disturbed Andrew, played by Stephen Moyer, she responds to a chance at a classier, more sophisticated way of life. In order to get their hands on a large sum of money, Ron allows Andrew to coach Dale to play a role. As Andrew becomes Henry Higgins to Dale's Eliza Doolittle, Ron's jealousy rises to a dangerous level. It's another brilliant touch in a story that constantly shifts things around.Each of the three stars brings something to the party, but by the end, Teresa Palmer burns up the screen. Aussie thrillers rarely hold back on the nudity and sex scenes and "Restraint" is no exception; Teresa Palmer's understated approach gives impact to a number of hot scenes with both men. Almost a decade later, her disarming style gives power to her performance in another psychological thriller with a twist, "Berlin Syndrome". Despite restraint in the budget, "Restraint" is a polished production. David Denneen started out directing commercials and that ability to quickly capture mood and action shows in "Restraint". Great photography and a good score add to its quality. "Restraint" is a winner all the way and the ambiguous ending doesn't defuse what has gone before.

...and certainly not as well as the femme fatale's clothing fits her, but this is still a decent little thriller that delivers handsomely on a relatively small budget, despite an Act Three resolution that doesn't quite live up to the build. David Denneen guides an excellent cast through his feature-length debut with remarkable assurance and style; where has this guy been the past decade? Said cast does him and the unfortunately flawed script proud: newcomer, Travis "The Big Valley" Fimmel, authoritatively conjurers a young Brad Pitt, Teresa "I Am Number Four" Palmer can't help but make one think of a young Nicole Kidman, and Steven "True Blood" Moyer proves he can ably sink his teeth into a role without fangs. Denneen couldn't have asked for better.The plot is drawn from the same well as films like "Kalifornia," "Natural Born Killers," and progenitors like "Badlands." Crazed young couple on the lam, home invasion, cat and mouse monkey business, and the inevitable comeuppance of the perps, with minor variations to keep it interesting. It's pretty tightly written until the unlikely third act, as if scripter Dave "Garage Days" Warner ran out of juice and fell back on stock Hollywood resolution. Still, "Restraint" earns enough welcome to mostly make up for the fizzled finale. I stumbled across it at the library, and familiarity with two of the three leads was enough to pique my interest. I was not displeased.

Dale (Teresa Palmer) and Ron (Travis Fimmel), a runaway couple being sought after for murder hide out with the reclusive agoraphobic Andrew (Stephen Moyer), who lives alone in a villa living off a fund set up by his parents. In order to survive Andrew promises them 40000 dollars with 48 hours, by using the unique semblance of Dale to his ex-fiancée. Meanwhile he initiates a psychological battle, which slowly causes ruptures in Dale's and Ron's relationship...A high tension thriller complemented by some crisp acting and strong characters. Set mostly within the confines of Andrew's villa it is however less focused on creating an atmosphere, but more on interaction and mind warfare. Throwing together three amoral people gave the necessary backbone to create a tense atmosphere, while the beautiful Teresa Palmer keeps male audiences interested by showing off a lot of skin. Nonetheless despite some very strong credentials the ending failed to entice me, as the conclusion came in fairly predictably and lacked the emotional punch (despite it's supposed shock value) after so much was promised in the build-up. The script is also rather rudimentary, which need not be detrimental, but given the capability to keep interest on high levels for ninety it would be beneficial to either cut runtime or add some side occurrences to beef up the story.In the end it is a rather good movie, but falters by not being able to keep you involved for the long run. This in part owed to the fact that script or characters weren't really very original or unique.

The smalltime criminal Ron (Travis Fimmel) has killed the boss of his girlfriend and striper Dale (Teresa Palmer) and they are escaping from the police. After killing a gas station attendant, Ron drives to the old manor of the agoraphobic Andrew (Stephen Moyer) in the middle of nowhere to swap the runaway car. When he notes that Andrew is a wealthy man, Ron decides to get money from Andrew to travel to Thailand. Andrew notes the resemblance of Dale with his fiancée Gabrielle that left him six months ago and proposes Dale to die her hair and go to the bank with two checks of US$ 20,000.00 pretending that she is Gabrielle. Along the days, Dale saves Andrew from the sadistic Ron, but the unstable killer is a jealous man and does not intend to leave Andrew alive. "Restraint" is a claustrophobic and dark low-budget movie and my remark is that it is too long. The cinematography is very beautiful and Stephen Moyer, the vampire Bill Compton from "True Blood", and Travis Fimmel have fine performances, but the hot Teresa Palmer steals the movie with her amoral character. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Aprisionados" ("Imprisoned")