Watch Restoration For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie is quite a piece, and is there to prove that there are great movies that are, somehow, forgot as times goes by. The main character is a delight, it's so easy to like him (I guess Robert Downey Jr has a very "likable" face anyway), and you are emotionally bound to him from his first appearance to the last fade out which is, in my humble opinion, what makes a good movie. The background is also very interesting. The post Cromwell revolution England is a place full of contrasting people and ideals, and the movie explores the differences between nobility and the ordinary men with the sad looking puritans and the ostensible royal doctor. But the movie has a few flaws as well: The timing gets kind of annoying and confusing in the first quarter of the movie as some of the characters are not properly explored, specially the Painter and Lady Celia, leading to some unnecessary over exposure of the main character. But then, the movie get everything together and put you there, inside the roller coaster of the story again, leading to surprising twists and a touch ending. :)

Robert Downey, Jr. stars as a physician at the beck and call of the royal court in 17th Century England, and serves as our guide through an overstuffed story that includes lunatics, fires and the plague. As a narrative, it probably could have been tighter (o.k. let's face it, it could DEFINITELY have been tighter), and I think another reviewer here at IMDb said it well when he claimed that the movie is better than the sum of its parts, but I do remember liking this quite a bit. The jaw-dropping production and costume design is alone worth sitting through the movie for.With Sam Neill as a king and Meg Ryan as one of the lunatics.Grade: A-

Europe of the 1600's has often been an overlooked era, sandwiched between the idealism and art of the Elizabethan/Shakespearean Age (late 1500s) and the Enlightenment of the 1700's. In many ways, 1600s England was a transitional time reflecting the growth of England toward a modern sensibility while still being hindered by the traditions and outlooks of the past, primarily the hold of Medieval thought which held to a strict hierarchical strata while discouraging and even destroying the pursuit of knowledge and truth.Robert Downey Jr. does a tremendous job as a character that appears to be a fore-runner of the coming Enlightenment. He is a physician on the verge of ground-breaking new scientific discoveries in the area of medicine. However, through a serendipitous and at first fortuitous run-in with King Charles II, the Restoration monarch (played brilliantly by Sam Neill), Downey loses his way and becomes a willing pawn in the king's sexual chess games. He even forsakes his precious medical texts to a colleague. In return, Downey gains a royal title, a royal tract of land, servants, and a wife. The only stipulation that is placed upon him: He cannot touch his own wife--she ultimately belongs to the King as one of his many mistresses.In this way, Charles II is still a monarch enacting a role that was first prescribed in the Middle Ages: that of the absolute ruler with absolute authority that can use his subjects for his own whims, and he can also discard those that are no longer useful. Simultaneously, there is another side to Charles II. Although he is the son of his late father Charles I, Charles II is the heir to Cromwell who devoted time and money to philanthropic projects, such as the study of science and medicine, the improvement of architecture, and the creation of schools. Charles II continues the enterprises begun by Cromwell and becomes a transitional monarch who has aspects that reflect both the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment.In many ways, Restoration is about these two worlds, and how Downey lives in both of them, from the luxurious life of a nobleman to the humble physician working with Quakers in an insane asylum. The king is also a person caught in both worlds. At first he appears the selfish ruler using his subjects as chess pieces in a large game in which he is always the bona fide winner. But then in another scene, we see him as a kind of philanthropic monarch financing and encouraging scientific and liberal research and discourse. In an interesting scene, Downey enters a kind of laboratory in which knowledge, research, and discovery are are being supported by the king who presides over the work of many scholars. Behind him is a strange swirling circus-like representation of the cosmos. We can't quite tell if the representation depicts the earth as the center of the Universe or the Sun, as if this notion is still being debated. But to his credit, the king is allowing for debate--something a Medieval king under a Medieval Church would have never allowed. Later, we learn that Downey is also an amateur astronomer, gazing at the stars in the heavens with a telescope.Through his adventures in and out of these worlds, Downey sees the light and dark of both and becomes something greater than he had before, particularly through an episode in which he falls in love with one of the patients (Meg Ryan) at the insane asylum. One aspect of the film that is quite revealing is the shades of color used to represent the different "worlds". The world of the king is bright and colorful. The world of the Quakers is far more gray, but toward the end of the movie, the world of the king becomes darker hued.In the end, even the King seems to understand the importance of scientific discourse and research--that these ideas could ultimately help not only his people but himself. Medieval monarchs played games with people's lives for their own selfish ends, and sometimes stifled those who could make positive contributions to their societies and even humanity at large. Restoration is about the transition from the Medieval model to a new societal design in which personal gain becomes an outcome of talent and contribution and not monarchical whim. Today, we are still challenged by the notion of privilege over substance. People in power still often give major opportunities to those they favor over those that could make important contributions who are less adept at playing the political game.

I must admit I was a bit skeptical before watching this particular film. Not only were my expectations met but exceeded. The story is brilliantly written to not only be historically accurate but it moves the human spirit. The casting was infallible as well. Downey does a wonderful job displaying the naive, hormonally driven young doctor who, in itself, restores his identity throughout the film. Meg Ryan captivated the film with her coy charm and the cameo by Mr Grant was nothing shy of entertaining. One aspect that hit home for me was the fact that the film did not speak solely on the Age of Restoration within society, yet it clearly focuses on one man of the age, Robert Merivel who, as stated before goes through a complete 180 on the maturity spectrum as well as going from a boy to a man. The director Howard, also does a fabulous job playing on human emotion. The first half of the film is light and uplifting with royalty almost satirical. It makes the viewer feel comfortable as well as happy such as Robert felt during his stays at court. Yet once "out of paradise" Howard then exposes the dark side of the age by changing scenery to a less lavish and happy setting. There is rain, dark colors, plague, death and despair. So ultimately you feel as though you are journeying along with Sir Merivel as apposed to being a mere passerby or an observer. It takes a special film to sort of grab you by the shoulders and force you to be apart of it.