Mute is a Science Fiction show that has no reason for being a Science Fiction show. It’s a simple revenge story. The kind that Charles Bronson made in the 1970s and Liam Neeson still makes today. But for some unknown reason, the story is set in some Sci Fi future with flying cars and giant billboards. A sci fi setting does not make a sci fi story, for that, you need some element of the story that has to do with, you know, science. Blade Runner is Science Fiction because it is about cyborgs, a futuristic bit of technology. If you remove the robots, there is no story to tell. If you remove the background sets in Mute, the story remains exactly the same. It could just as easily have been set in the present, or the past. Setting it in the future makes no sense.
Mute is filled with simple story cliches such as a crazy ex-husband, hookers who love babysitting, and a hero who is a pacifist, until something happens and then he isn’t. I liked most of the actors and they all did a good job with what they had to work with. The special effects were not all that terrible, maybe they just recycled a few of the props from Altered Carbon. The story world needed a little fleshing out. They talked about a war in the Middle East, but also seemed to imply that America had fallen from grace. The story was set in Berlin, again, for no apparent reason. There’s no mention as to how our Amish hero ended up there or how he got a job as a bar tender when he can’t talk. It’s set in the same Universe as Moon, one of the Director’s other movies.
My favorite Duncan Jones movie was Source Code, a brilliant bit of business that was part Groundhog Day and part Manchurian Candidate with a touch of Twilight Zone and X-files tossed in for good measure. That was a fun film.
Mute was ok, but it would have been much better without all the sci fi crap tossed in.
A much cooler one sheet than Mute deserves.
