Mute: reviews

What the critics say average 3.8 from 8 outlets

• 5.8 IndiewireEric Kohn The movie?s key drama rests on his investment in a woman we barely get to know or care about, so Leo?s central emotional struggle rings oddly hollow throughout. It doesn?t help that a lot of the supporting characters register as crude stereotypes, including a flamboyant bartender and the oodles of empty bad guys who stand in Leo?s way. Read
• 5.0 The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden The feature is richly imagined and well-played by a cast of movie stars and intriguing new faces. But the handsomely downbeat atmospherics overwhelm its themes of love, parenthood, crime and punishment. Read
• 5.0 VarietyPeter Debruge An over-designed but otherwise uninspired slice of sci-fi noir ? a stock missing-persons mystery in which a wordless bartender goes searching for his girlfriend through the sketchy near-future Berlin underworld. Read
• 4.2 The PlaylistAndrew Crump It?s the kind of self-satisfied movie that, rather than fixing its POV and structural issues, believe it?s clever to put a winky reference to 'Moon' in its background because it?s 2018 and everything has to exist in a shared universe for no reason other than Marvel did it. If nothing else 'Mute' takes better aim at exploring deep, personal, human experiences as shaped by a tech-centric culture. Read
• 4.0 The TelegraphEd Cumming In the circumstances, Skarsgård might feel he escaped lightly with a part that involves almost no speaking. The plot hangs on relationships which simply don?t ring true. Rudd, in particular, is poorly cast, lacking the menace his role demands. Jones conjured intimacy on the surface of the moon, but in the crowded streets of futuristic Berlin, there?s no real feeling. Read
• 2.0 The GuardianCharles Bramesco When it becomes apparent that 'Mute' will not be a great achievement in the usual sense, which happens after five minutes or so, the hope becomes that it will end up one of those intimately personal messes that driven auteurs sometimes vomit out. Read
• 2.0 The A.V. ClubIgnatiy Vishnevetsky As in his big-budget fantasy dud 'Warcraft', Jones demonstrates no knack for grand spectacle. His sweet spot is in more cramped points of view, and 'Mute'?s Berlin only comes alive in a few sequences that glimpse the city handheld from the front seat of a car, with tanklike garbage trucks rumbling by and towers looming overhead - a cool, interesting way of showing the audience an elaborate futurescape on a limited budget. But the film ignores all the potential commentary and conflict in its pulpy, hyperbolic premise. Read
• 2.0 The WrapRobert Abele As 'Mute' lopes along before reaching its climactic, drawn-out confrontations, it grasps for emotional relevance about everything from war to love to parenting to loss of innocence, and leaves one mostly wondering why it takes place in the future. Read