By Robert Scucci
| Published
Sometimes, all you need to stay grounded in a sci-fi flick set in the not-so-distant future is an insanely relatable character you can identify with. 2018’s Mute misses the mark here, as its protagonist is a former Amish boy with no vocal cords living in 2035 Berlin. The whole setting resembles Blade Runner, but if Harrison Ford knew how to build furniture and raise barns.
On one hand, I kind of get it. A technologically averse Amish man living in a hyper-futuristic society is the perfect allegory for never being able to return home, and there’s something to be said about that. But this movie also takes over two hours to lay out its convoluted, overlapping plot lines, making it incredibly hard to stay invested despite its immersive, neo-noir cyberpunk visuals.
While Mute is technically a follow-up to writer-director Duncan Jones’ 2009 hard sci-fi masterpiece, Moon, it functions almost entirely as a standalone film that just so happens to occupy the same universe. There are some Easter eggs in Mute that nod to the first film, but they’re subtle and don’t necessarily enhance the storytelling in any meaningful way. If you blink, you’ll miss them, and if you miss them, you won’t even know what you’re missing out on.
Which is a total shame, because Moon is an infinitely superior movie, and Mute is just “meh.”
Leo Spends His Adult Life, Away From Amish Paradise!
Set in the year 2035, Mute introduces us to Leo (Alexander Skarsgard), a bartender working in Berlin who, thanks to a brutal childhood injury, no longer has vocal cords. He’s a true analog man in the sense that he’s formerly Amish, meaning he has serious apprehensions about modern technology. Despite this, he’s a productive member of society who shows up to work as a bartender, every day without fail. Also working at the bar is Leo’s girlfriend, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh), who’s holding onto some sort of secret that will eventually blow up in everybody’s face.
Leo and Naadirah seem to have a great relationship, but things completely unravel when Naadirah disappears after Leo gets into a fight with one of their regular customers, Stuart (Noel Clarke), who gets a little too handsy with her even after she tells him how uncomfortable he’s making her.
Now that we have the main storyline out of the way, here’s where Mute loses the plot in the most unfortunate way. We’re introduced to Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), two black-market surgeons who get a ton of backstory that at first seems like a non sequitur, but it basically boils down to this: Bill is trying to leave Berlin with his daughter Josie (Mia-Sophie), while Duck wants to stick around because he has a side business that fuels some of his darker desires.
These storylines run separately for way too long before eventually converging in a way that finally makes sense. And trust me, there is a decent payoff here, but by the time it arrives, it feels like a too-little-too-late scenario. Paul Rudd goes dark here, and it’s a refreshing change of pace considering he was knee-deep in Ant-Man movies around this time. Cactus Bill and Duck’s relationship is a complex one, but most of their conversations stay frustratingly surface-level. That’s unfortunate because there’s clearly a lot of depth here that never fully gets explored, even though you can tell there’s plenty beneath the surface that needs unpacking.
Mute Is Neat To Look At, Moon Is 1000% Better
While there are some neat little Easter eggs that nod to Moon in Mute, namely references to the company Lunar Industries, you don’t need to watch both films together, and they can absolutely be treated as separate entities thematically. Moon spends all of its time in isolation, and it’s a story about ego death and clinging to humanity in a place where there is none. Mute is basically Blade Runner with more of a neo-noir bent.
Visually, Mute is absolutely stunning and ridiculously fun to look at. While I wasn’t a fan of the storytelling, the scenery is sprawling, complex, intrusive, and overstimulating in the best possible ways. It really feels like a futuristic hellhole I’m glad not to be living in, but it’s also clearly wearing its influences on its sleeve. However, this was Jones’ intention, meaning he was likely going for more of a homage than a straight-up style study, which is exactly how the film plays out.
Mute, compared to its brilliantly executed predecessor, is underwhelming on the storytelling front but still a visual feast full of neon-drenched cityscapes. I’ll probably throw this one on again in the future while doing idle activities like drawing, occasionally looking up just to soak in the scenery.
On a narrative level, though, this one really didn’t do much for me outside of making me wish the two main storylines intersected in a more meaningful way. It feels like two completely different movies playing side by side for most of the first two acts, which makes me wonder if there’s a more cohesive director’s cut floating around somewhere that fills in these narrative gaps.
Mute is a Netflix Original and can be streamed with an active subscription.
