Director: Duncan Jones
Writer: Michael Robert Johnson, Duncan Jones (Screenplay)
Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd, Noel Clarke, Justin Theroux, Robert Kazinsky, Seyneb Saleh, Robert Sheehan, Dominic Monaghan
Plot: A mute bartender goes up against his city’s gangsters in an effort to find out what happened to his missing partner.
Tagline – He doesn’t need words.
Runtime: 2 Hours 6 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Tonally Confusing
Story: Mute starts as we meet Amish man Leo (Skarsgard), working as a bartender in a futuristic world, filled with technology, to make his life harder he is a mute, he is reluctantly being bought into the technology world by his girlfriend Naadirah (Saleh), a waitress at the club they both work in.
When Naadirah goes missing, Leo goes on a mission to learn the truth about what happened to her, this includes dealing with gangsters, the fetish fans of the world and secret surgeons Cactus Bill (Rudd) and Duck (Theroux).
Thoughts on Mute
Characters – Leo is a mute Amish bartender that falls in love with a waitress, he isn’t happy to embrace technology as the rest of the world, which only holds him back, but he has taken to some which goes against his Amish ways. When his love goes missing he dives into world of gangsters to learn the truth. Cactus Bill is one part of the underground surgery team, he is loud doesn’t care who he insults as he is preparing to leave. He does the talking to cover up the reality that Leo can’t. Duck is the partner of Bill that performers the operations, he has a bad vibe about his charming personality. We have plenty of colourful characters here which only bring us moments which are meant to stand out.
Performances – The performances are hard to fault in this movie, the actors do the best they can do with what they have. Alexander Skarsgard plays the role that is shown with his emotions and body language well, while Paul Rudd does the fast talking character well. We don’t get enough of most of the colourful characters we meet which doesn’t give them the time to shine.
Story – The story is a mystery needing to be solved by an outsider to a criminal world. This is the basic side to everything as the colourful characters make each meeting feel like a clue for Leo, but this ruins the flow of the tone of the film as none of these characters remotely feel like they are from the same world. The story does contain twists, but they are not difficult to figure out and it goes on for too long being over two hours.
Mystery/Sci-Fi – The mystery in the film follows us as we see if Leo can figure out what happened to Naadirah in a futuristic look at Berlin.
Settings – The film does have a good look, trying to be futuristic, but more about being eco-friendly for the look.
Special Effects – The effects for the movie are good for the most part without being used as often as you would imagine.
Scene of the Movie – Final moments.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many ends that just don’t need to be here.
Final Thoughts – This is a disappointing sci-fi movie that had all the interesting ingredients needed to make this stand out more, but it only ends up being basic with too many tonal issues.
Overall: Disappointing sci-fi film.
Rating
