Incarnation is a time loop movie. I don't mind them at all as a rule. The marvellous Groundhog Day is a comedy, whilst the exceedingly entertaining Edge of Tomorrow is a sci - fi hybrid with equal parts action and comedy.
Incarnation is a Serbian made mystery thriller, notable for its short running time of barely 80 minutes, which ultimately is probably a good thing. The first act is quite engrossing. A guy (Stojan Djordjevic), wakes up on a street bench with no memory and barely has time to ask where he is before a group of masked men walk towards him and shoot him. Of course, he wakes up in exactly the same spot and the exact same thing happens.
For around 20 minutes, it remains interesting. There's a couple of built - upon sequences where the guy takes a couple of different approaches, one involving an enigmatic girl on the street (who has nothing more to do with the rest of the film), then things rapidly begin to slide. The admittedly, very well photographed urban location, switches abruptly to that of a hospital, then out to sparse plains land and a rest room. There's talk of serums wearing off and an incoherent plan involving telephone numbers, that are supposed to give us more information, but only lead to more confusion, despite the inclusion of some solid chase action and impressively muscular fight sequences. Think Christopher Nolan with a migraine.
It would seem director and co - writer Filip Kovacevi just ran out of sensible ideas to finish a story which began so intriguingly. Had the end game's twists and eventual explanation maintained the movie's enthralling start, then the takeaway could have been so much better, than the taste of disappointment one can't help but experiencing, as the final credits roll.
