The Reconstruction of William Zero

It took me three attempts to watch this movie. Five minutes into the first attempt I went to sleep. Of course that's not fair. No movie is that bad. OK, very few movies are that bad. On the second attempt I got to about 20 minutes in before falling asleep. On the third attempt, after being well rested, I completed the movie.

By now you're probably wondering why was I so committed to watching this movie. I don't know. So, the one word I have for this movie is: somniferous. That is to say sleep inducing.

"The Reconstruction of William Zero" was a movie about cloning, and not a good one. Dr. William Blakely (Conal Byrne) is the subject of the cloning and two wrongs don't make a right. In other words, if you take one lifeless character and clone him what do you have? Yes, that's two lifeless characters.

The story was thrown together. There was a little twist in there but that did nothing to save it. Somehow we were supposed to care about him and his wife whom we saw for all of five minutes. It was just one slow, drawn out drama detailing number 5,362 of why cloning is bad.

Briefly, the story evolves around the concept of clones, and a situation is conjured up as a sort of platform to deliver a plot theme centered on this arena of potential ethical questions.

It could have been a fantastically compelling film, but just didn't quite get there.

No spoilers here, so it's a bit difficult to focus on some of the key elements which are the demise of this effort.

What stood out the most, perhaps, was the absurdly overdone emotional moments of the key clone character(s), which came off as just being syrupy, like emotional molasses oozing out of the screen.

I know, it was supposed to represent the emotional neediness and psychological challenges of the main character(s), but it just came off painfully slow and pedantic.

Just a wee bit too much on the self absorbed delusionary role playing . . . and a bit light on the actual functionality of the overall plot premise.

Perhaps this might be remade somewhere in the future, with a different treatment.

The concept is certainly interesting . . . but this version, well . . .

If you don't believe the NFL is scripted, you may believe that they tried to clone Tom Brady. What they got was a near-middle aged quarterback, who is past his prime. That's right, two Tom Brady's. Well, the clone Tom Brady is the bad Tom Brady. He threw a lot of interceptions, when the script called for a touchdown. Tre'davious White threw down the interception, like had had caught a poisonous snake. Then he fell down like he broke his leg. That man is a team player! But the bad Tom Brady wasn't done being bad. He cloned himself! This clone was a GOOD Tom Brady. But now there are THREE Tom Bradys! To me, one Tom Brady is more than enough. Seen on Tubi, the free streaming site, which has many free movies; and now, live TV.

No, its not directed by spike jonze and it's certainly not written by Charlie Kaufman . But for a couple of hours of free-ish entertainment on VOD it's the kind of material those in love with fantasy/scifi settings will certainly enjoy regardless.

Acting is on point, plot is very solid, and photography is good. Don't expect to have your mind blown but perfect covid watching for the scifi buff who doesn't mind low-fi.

I didn't make it through to the end of this film, I have to be honest. Why? ...Because dear gawd it was dragged out far too much to death. It was a genuine sheer effort from the very start just to keep going in watching it. There was decent actors in it - and they tried they best - but my gawd, did it drag on and on! It was painful.

The hope of a good story was there in the films description. There was glimpses of possible promise things was about to get better - but it never materialised. Such a shame. After over half way through I gave up the fight to find something to keep me interested while it dragged on. It was actually depressing watching it. Its atmosphere of the film in parts didn't help as it dragged on. If you are thinking of buying this on DVD or HD to watch it, don't!