Review- Mute

I was planning on writing this review for quite a while as Duncan Jones is one of my favourite directors working at the moment and a new film from him with a noir plot and a Blade Runner-esque aesthetic sounds perfect. And then I saw the film. This review almost didn't happen because it was a truly crushing watch for me but I'm going to do my best to dissect the movie and explain to you why you shouldn't watch it, even (or perhaps especially) if you're a fan of Duncan Jones. The plot follows a mute Amish bartender as he goes on the search for his missing girlfriend through a futuristic Berlin. Along the way, he'll uncover... Well, it seems like he's going to uncover a lot but I have no problem telling you that he doesn't really. There's some mild crime stuff going on and two wacky surgeons whose paths he keeps crossing with but that's it. The problem with the plot is that it tries to be too sprawling but with an intimate core and not enough time is spent on either for there to be a real sense of scale or intimacy.

Sadly, and despite some really talented actors, the performances in this film are also a let down. As the titular mute is the bulk of physical excellence that is Alexander Skarsgard. On paper, this should have worked as even in his weaker roles, Skarsgard has always excelled at physicality, plus we're in a time where Sally Hawkins proved in astonishing fashion how much emotion can be expressed with so few words. Unfortunately, he has none of the warmth of Hawkins and a silent version of the "hard-boiled detective" character just doesn't work. I want snappy monologues, not puppy dog eyes! Playing the two quippy surgeons are Paul Rudd and the brilliant (and hunky) Justin Theroux. I love both actors and while I definitely had doubts about Rudd as a dramatic actor, I wasn't expecting him to be this bland. Theroux is the real disappointment though as he has no real flair in his role and brings little to what could be an interesting character. Plus, he isn't even as hot as in The Leftovers so that won't be getting you through either. Noel Clarke pops up for a bit and while his presence always reminds me of those halcyon days of Doctor Who, he does little for the film being little more than a British accent. Finally, there's the girlfriend character who started to annoy me very quickly but fortunately disappeared from the film very quickly. That's the best thing I can say about her, seriously.

Visually this film is going to get a lot of comparisons to Blade Runner and those are very accurate. The problem is, this film doesn't have the budget to live up to Blade Runner 2049. Sure, maybe it's unfair to compare them precisely because of budget but there's still some problems with that argument. On the one hand, there's the fact that it doesn't even look as good as the original Blade Runner from 35 years ago. You can feel the clear divide between CGI landscapes and smaller scale sets constantly, although there's one shot in particular that just brings it completely to your attention. Even if you don't want to compare this to Blade Runner though, you can still compare it to Jones' first (and still greatest) film, Moon. The film directly references Moon a few times which just reminds you how much better it is than Mute. That film had a much smaller budget but knew that and kept it smaller scale. The effects weren't always amazing but they weren't the focus so that didn't matter. In Mute, the point is to explore this world but what you see you just won't like. Still, Jones brings composer Clint Mansell over from Moon and while not even close to as good as his score for Moon, his decent composing here is my personal highlight.

In the time I've been writing this review, the disappointment has faded a bit and is now largely replaced by an emptiness. There was real potential here and a lot of very talented people involved but nothing good emerged. I'm really hoping that no other film this year disappoints me this much so I have to give this film a