Mute * ½ / *****
Directed by: Duncan Jones.
Written by: Michael Robert Johnson & Duncan Jones.
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård (Leo Beiler), Paul Rudd (Cactus Bill), Justin Theroux (Duck Teddington), Seyneb Saleh (Naadirah), Gilbert Owuor (Maksim), Robert Sheehan (Luba), Nikki Lamborn (Rhonna), Noel Clarke (Stuart), Daniel Fathers (Sgt. Robert Kloskowski), Florence Kasumba (Tanya), Sam Rockwell (Sam Bell).
Director Duncan Jones has apparently been working on Mute since before his first film – Moon (2009) – was even an idea in his head. The film is said to be connected to that one – a spiritual sequel of sorts, set in the same universe, but with completely different characters, etc. It’s odd than that for as long as Jones has been thinking about Mute that the films feels as disjointed as it does. Jones is clearly influenced by Blade Runner – as many sci fi directors are – and it shows in the production design and costumes - although the aesthetic of this film feels a little off – too bright, not dirty enough. This is a noir story in a future setting, but neither of those things seem particularly well thought through here.
The film opens with our hero as a child (as many do) – as Leo (who will grow up to be Alexander Skarsgaard) gets into an accident, and his Amish parents refuse the surgery that would have given him the ability to speak. Flash forward 30 years, and he still cannot speak, and now works as a bartender in a strip club in Berlin, where he is dating a waitress, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh). The two clearly love each other, but she’s hiding something, and then goes missing, prompting Leo to go searching for her.
We have a feeling from the start that somehow this is all going to connect with the other story strain Jones is setting up – between American surgeons Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), trying hard to be a version of Trapper John and Hawkeye from Robert Altman’s MASH. They are doctors in hiding – there is talk about Americans needing Visas, and turning those who went AWOL in, but it isn’t explained very clearly. The two are charming, but undeniably sleazy – and Cactus Bill is also clearly hiding something – perhaps having to do with his daughter, who he brings to a variety of non-appropriate locations.
I don’t know that Jones ever really finds the right tone for the film, and he clearly never finds the right pace for it. The film runs over two hours, but it takes almost half that time before anything actually happens in the film. Skarsgaard is not well served by the screenplay – he is actually quite good in the early scenes, where he is able to communicate how love struck with Naadirah he is simply by the look in his eyes, but he’s less successful as his character has descend into hell, like all noir heroes do, to find out what the truth. Rudd is far better as Cactus Bill, leaning in to his sleazy side, and using his natural charm to get you to like him, even as you know he’s a slime ball. Theroux’s Duck is less successful – he’s just slimy from the start, and I don’t think the revelations that come out about him – and his true motivations – do much except to leave a bad taste in your mouth, as they feel cheap and exploitive.
Jones, it must be said, is clearly a talented filmmaker. Moon remains one of the most interesting sci fi films of the 21st Century – a film that grows in your mind after it ends, and keeps growing, and his mainstream debut afterwards – Source Code – is as good as studio sci fi normally gets. Here though, it almost seems like he was blinded to the stories flaws, and never really thought through how to make this story – or this world – really work. Everything feels patched together, perhaps interesting ideas in isolation, but they never really come together into anything more.
