Netflix And Chill: Source Code (2011)

The second film from director Duncan Jones, working this time from a script by Ben Ripley, Source Code feels like the kind of film that is a step up, in terms of the budget and size of the cast, but also manages to keep the focus on a very cool sci-fi premise, and that's what helps it avoid some of the common flaws that can often come up in sophomore directorial features.

The easy sell of the concept is this; Jake Gyllenhaal plays a U.S. Army pilot named Colter Stevens who wakes up to find himself in the body of Sean Fentress  a la Quantum Leap. He has eight minutes to not only locate a bomb on the train that he is on, but also figure out who the bomber is. On the train with him are a woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and various other passengers, who are all suspects. Helping him to complete his mission, but only there once he is back at base, are Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) and a Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright). It's a race against the clock, eight minutes at a time.

Yes, this is a time-loop movie, on the one hand, and that is how it was sold, which is fine, and you get the time markers that are always required in this sort of thing (conversations, phone calls, things being spilled or dropped), but it's also a bit more than that, although I am not going into any details that could spoil the reveals. I will just say that it requires your attention, patience, and trust, and it rewards them all completely before the end credits roll.

Gyllenhaal is as good as ever in the lead role, one that allows him to use a little bit of everything he can do (drama, a small amount of comedy, a bit of action), and Monaghan is also very good, despite her role being arguably the most thankless one in the film. Farmiga and Wright have to stay much more focused and controlled in their communications with the main character, even when deciding whether or not to explain to him exactly why that eight minute window is so important.

Ripley has crafted a great script, mixing in simple popcorn entertainment thrills with interesting ideas and moral quandaries, and Jones works confidently with the material, seeming to take great delight in the individual elements that build into a more complex picture by the third act, a delight that is conveyed to viewers throughout.

Jones has tried to continually entertain people in the decade since he started helming feature films, and I personally don't dislike Warcraft (although, as a non-gamer, it was a bit lost on me) or Mute as much as many others did, but I hope he eventually makes another couple of movies as good as his one-two punch of Moon and this. Everyone continues to praise his debut, but this film seems to get forgotten, a great shame considering it is one of the better mainstream sci-fi movies to come out in the last ten years.

8/10

You can buy the movie, at a bargain price (just now), here.
Americans can get it here.

Mute (2018)

There are many pros and cons to the immediacy and availability that Netflix gives to viewers. Many now prefer having some big titles that can be watched from the comfort of their own home (and I am one of them), many complain that it is taking us further away from the big screen experience. Many of their original movies, and titles they have acquired, have been interesting and enjoyable, although just as many people now see Netflix as a dumping ground for the dross that studios realise won't make them enough money at the box office. And everyone has an opinion ASAP, which can make it harder to fully form your own thoughts for a review without considering what others have already said.

Many of the reviews I have noticed so far for Mute have not been kind, and I will mention some of the criticisms here because they are, for the most part, fair. Regardless of the problems it has, however, I have to say that I really enjoyed Mute. It's far from perfect, but it's a stylish and enjoyable sci-fi thriller that takes some dark turns I really wasn't expecting.

Alexander Skarsgård plays Leo, a young man who lost his voice in a childhood accident. He works in a bar, avoids most tech due to his Amish upbringing, enjoys crafting wood into little pieces of art, and is in love with a young woman, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh). When Naadirah suddenly goes missing, Leo sets out to find her, taking himself deeper and deeper into murky and dangerous waters, populated by powerful criminals and lesser crooks, like the two characters portrayed by Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux.

Directed by Duncan Jones, who also co-wrote the movie with Michael Robert Johnson, Mute is a good idea that isn't realised to its full potential. In fact, it's a mish-mash of good ideas that aren't all handled as they should be. The whole idea of Leo being Amish isn't ever used as well as it could be, and in one scene he takes to driving almost as well as Michael Myers did. It's something that could have set this film further apart from others in this subgenre, but not enough is done with it. The same can be said about the world created onscreen, and the fluidity of gender depicted in a number of the characters. Jones has created a fine top coat, there's just nothing underneath to keep it there, leaving it to wear thin and eventually flake away to nothing.

The above paragraph won't be news to anyone who has read any other reviews of Mute. They are common criticisms, and I agree with them. What I don't agree with is the opinion that some of the darker and more disturbing moments are unnecessary. There's a character development in Mute that will make viewers very uncomfortable, and rightly so, and the pay off is huge. If this element hadn't been incorporated into the script, as horrible as it made me feel, then the final act would have had less tension and less impact.

I also disagree with anyone complaining about the acting from the leads. Skarsgård is superb in his role, he's so great at displaying both strength and vulnerability, those wide eyes ready to tear up when he is being hammered with truths he doesn't want to hear. Rudd is equally superb, playing his character with such energy and sardonic humour that you're often not sure whether to enjoy his company or simply loathe him, and Theroux does very well with arguably the easiest of the three roles. Robert Sheehan is impressive in his various incarnations, while Noel Clarke and Robert Kazinsky feel as if they have wandered in off the set of a very different type of film. And then we have Saleh, who is just . . . okay. Viewers have to buy into the central relationship by buying into the portrayal and appeal of Leo, otherwise this wouldn't work, mainly due to the fact that we don't get enough time to know Saleh. She is not the onlt female character given short shrift. The film, as a whole, doesn't give us many female characters at all, and those who do get screentime aren't handed anywhere near the best roles, to say the least.

But here's the thing about the problems with Mute. They don't matter so much while the film is playing. Jones paces things well enough, he incorporates some beeautiful shots (a sequence in a bowling alley is a real standout), and he clearly has faith in his actors to distract you from the weaknesses. Which they do, and that easily makes it worth a couple of hours of your time.

7/10

It's on Netflix now so there are no links here for shiny discs.