Review: New Sci-Fi movie on Netflix ‘Mute’ leaves much to be desired


Set in a futuristic Berlin, new Netflix movie Mute tells the story of a Leo, a mute bartender who has lost his ability to speak in a boating accident as a child and refused treatment to restore his voice due to his Amish beliefs. When his girlfriend goes missing, Leo explores the underground world of crime in the city and makes shocking discoveries. Overall, director Duncan Jones — who also directed Moon, Source Code and Warcraft — brought life to a film with an interesting premise, but the actual execution of the film was far from perfect, due to disconnected storylines and acting that’s hard to accept at face value.

The best acting comes from Alexander Skarsgård in his portrayal of Leo, the voiceless bartender. Acting in a role without dialogue is no easy task, and Skarsgård’s interpretation of  Leo offers a valiant attempt to take on this challenge. In many scenes throughout the film, Skarsgård sustains a silent charisma that brings his character alive. At other times however, the lack of dynamic range in his emotional expression at times offers an unconvincing portrayal of his character and leaves something to be desired.

Skarsgård’s palatable acting stands in stark contrast to Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux’s portrayals of Cactus Bill and Duck, two black market surgeons working together as partners-in-crime. The two are trying to purchase false identification so Cactus, who is AWOL, can escape Berlin with his daughter. It is not easy to pinpoint exactly why the not-so-dynamic duo was so unwatchable; the ridiculous mustache on Rudd’s character and the silly wig on Theroux’s certainly played a role, but most likely it was their inability to be taken seriously even in their scenes with the most dramatic tension. Ultimately, the characters seemed to be little more than fun but awkward experiments for actors with as much prestige and experience as Rudd and Theroux.

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Another weakness of the film was the actual plot itself. The main two storylines — one of Leo and the search for his girlfriend, the other of Cactus and Duck’s black market surgery operations — are extremely disconnected throughout the film. It is not until the end that Jones explains and links the two, which ends up leaving many of the earlier elements of the plot forgotten and some smaller storylines unresolved.

Additionally, Jones’s inclusion of the theme of pedophilia seems exceptionally misguided. Throughout the movie, the director handles Duck’s pedophilic tendencies in a darkly comedic manner, including humorous scenes where Duck seeks out young-looking prostitutes and becomes frustrated when they admit that they are of legal age. Worst of all, when Cactus finally stands up to Duck about his pedophilic intentions with his underage patients, the two finish their discussion with a nonchalant shopping spree the mall as if the issue had never been brought up. It seems that — much like the rampant onscreen gore throughout the movie — Jones included the subject of pedophilia for its shock value and little else.

Despite the lackluster acting and problematic plot, the visual design of the film shines through. The beautiful visuals match any big budget production showing a cyberpunk-inspired, futuristic world. The stunning cityscape and futuristic technology do not fail to impress in Mute. Indeed, Jones creates an intriguing and interesting universe that exists in the not-too-distant future. However, these outstanding visuals cannot compensate for the other issues painfully present within the movie. As proven by other recent movies, like Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, compelling visual design does not have to come at the expense of proper plot and character development.

Mute, however, misses the mark in the hopes that its visual design would be enough. This emphasis on visuals, in conjunction with the awkward acting and mishandled plot, make Mute a painful cyberpunk experiment.