Mute (2018)

Bad screenplay. A storyline that leads to nowhere. Could not believe I was watching a movie from a director that made MOON and SOURCE CODE.

Fmovies: A lot was put into this movie and it shows. Some may have trouble understanding the story or even consider it "slow" at times, but those are the same people that want every movie to be a super-hero or Hollywood type movie, and this is up there with the avante-garde, insightful and artistic movies. I think the storyline could have been a bit more polished, but in general the looks of the film, the acting, etc do no disappoint. If you have not seen it, do not allow critics form your judgement, watch it and then decide if it fits your viewing likes or not.

It's like the writers thought it would be clever just to put together a bunch of random scenes of violence with only the vaguest idea of a plot. Amish? Boating Accident? Mute. Bartender? Underground surgery? I have one more question, your honor. Why? why was it in the future? This was just completely stupid from start to finish. The thing is, there was a lot of tension along the way which was squandered...because none of it made any sense! And it's two hours of not making sense.

Mute fmovies. This premise had a lot of potential. I wanted to like the movie, but was really disappointed in the end. It was unfocused, the worldbuilding felt inconsistent and the different parts didn't seem connected. A futuristic Berlin skyline, retro interiors, contemporary cars, and buildings didn't fit together in this context.

The acting by the three main protagonists was alright and had many good parts, but was hampered by a rather bad, uninteresting plot which included some dull dialogs. It sometimes just felt randomly diced together.

It wasn't a terrible movie, but it was just too flawed to be enjoyable.

I was pretty surprised by the reviews, I thought it was a very well made movie even if it does take a lot of direction from movies like Blade Runner, but that's not a bad thing. Very dark but also a sensitive and moving film.

We're starting to get more movies and TV focused on futuristic noir. Blade Runner 2049 and Altered Carbon have just come down the pike and Mute joins that crowd. They all share a similar style, exposed neon colours and a creepy and dirty city to play around in. Mute doesn't reinvent the wheel, but they change enough to show off an interesting style. I enjoyed Mute's cinematography and environments even though it shares this vision with movies like Blade Runner. This was needed too, when you're starting to drift from Leo and Bill's adventures, they bring in some new trick or piece of technology to move things along.

Despite the negative reviews, the one positive things I heard before turning Mute on was Paul Rudd's performance as Cactus Bill. I have to agree, Rudd actually makes for a compelling villain and this is a big departure from Ant-Man. His performance is noteworthy, and it was a good reminder what he's capable of. Alexander Skarsgård is fine as Leo, he's just not given a lot to work with. He's an underrated actor but he's kneecapped by his character. Seyneb Saleh is good in her part as Naadirah. She's sultry yet reserved and she performs as capably as she can. Justin Theroux is suitably slimy as Donald, he has a good interplay with Rudd and that again helps the movie along. I don't approve of what they do with his character, it just comes across as gross and then they never bring it up again.

Netflix is becoming a place for filmmakers to explore their dream projects. I approve of that and we as moviegoers need more unique stuff as many things are just becoming more and more formulaic. But this idea is a double-edged sword, while its good that we get unconventional content, the flip-side is that there is no one there to rein the creative team in when things go array. My biggest problem with Mute isn't that it was long, it was that the pacing of this movie can be compared to how fast a glacier floats. We have an interesting setting and mildly interesting characters, but the movie just aimlessly wanders like Leo when he's looking for Naadirah. Maybe it would have been a little cliche but this would have been so much better if they had made some minor edits to the story and made Mute take place over 1 night. We spend entire nights with Leo where he makes little to no progress and then we watch him wake up and try all over again. It's not like he makes a ton of gradual progress, the plot shifts on his very quick realizations so why couldn't this have been tightened down? I don't necessarily need a ton of action, but our main character is a blank slate other than knowing a little about his background, the movie needed something other than the acting and the cool environments to coast on.

I've already talked about how Mute's plot needed to be tightened up and have some added urgency but the other crime that this movie commits is that it loses any leftover goodwill with its unusual conclusion. A lot of things can be forgiven with a strong and exciting resolution and if you have the choice between starting strong and finishing strong, go with the strong finish. Instead of ramping up the stakes, the movie dives into becoming weirder and more contemplative. Characters make choices for no other reason than to propel the story, they aren't realistic, and you can tell that they're going to come back and bite them immediately. Mute needed to desperately pull a rabbit out of its hat to keep me interested over the long run time and w