Berlin, the future, but close enough to feel familiar: In this loud, often brutal city, Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) - unable to speak from a childhood accident - searches for his missing girlfriend, the love of his life, his salvation, through dark streets, frenzied plazas, and the full spectrum of the cities shadow-dwellers. As he seeks answers, Leo finds himself mixed up with Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), a pair of irreverent US army surgeons on a mission all their own. This soulful sci-fi journey from filmmaker Duncan Jones ( Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) imagines a world of strange currencies in which echoes of love and humanity are still worth listening to.
The narrative doesn't quite coalesce, and except for a few late-in-the-proceedings moments, it doesn't deliver the grim, indelible shivers of the best noir.
With an insipid script, no narrative line, and a cast of unlikable characters, Mute has to get by on looks-neon Cold War hand-me-downs with all the workmanship of journeyman TV.
Since we're being encouraged to use the Bowie scale, we will admit that Mute is no Never Let Me Down. Let's charitably rate it at Black Tie, White Noise level.
What is Jones trying to say with "Mute"? One would hardly guess this over-congested generic exercise came from the same mind as the elegant, almost minimalistic "Moon," which made far better use of all that went unsaid.
Jones reportedly conceived of the film years ago. However, as the story evolved and took on more emotional themes he never found the right balance between the sentimental and the hard-boiled.