Netflix’s “Mute” Review: Weirdness

This weekend, my dude and I decided to give “Mute” on Netflix a try. They have really been stepping up their game with their original movies, and, of course, their series. Seeing that Alexander Skarsgard was in it made me pretty excited to watch it, (I’ve been a fan since “True Blood” – oh Eric Northman, *cue drools*). I was also excited to see Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux. The cast seemed good and it looked like it was going to have amazing CGI. And, I’m a big fan of science fiction. So – I knew the basis of the film was a dude looking for his missing girlfriend in a futuristic setting. Other than that, the preview just didn’t reveal a lot, (usually a good thing, right?)

Well…eh, where to begin? It was one of the weirdest movies I’ve seen in a long time. So, Alexander Skarsgard plays Leo, a bartender who can’t speak. He dates a blue-haired woman who works as a server at the club, (an odd club with dancing stripper robots – *wtf*). He’s like super into this woman – almost obsessively. And, he’s pretty damn determined to woo her in some pretty cute ways.

It jumps around a lot, not really linking the characters together initially. It was a bit confusing at first – like why is Paul Rudd being such an asshole? Are him and the guy played by Justin Theroux dating? Are those mobsters forcing them to do this shit? Like, it was a bit of a cluster f*ck at first. I can’t lie though, the dialogue between Rudd and Theroux’s characters is really interesting, (in a twisted sort of way).

It kept my attention, (mostly) and the relations between the various characters started to make sense…eventually. I did feel like it took quite a long time for the plot to come together. I didn’t even catch that Rudd’s character was named ‘Cactus’ until halfway through the movie.

I’m sure the critics loved it though because it may have some really odd meaning that I’m just not grasping? Was it alright? Sure. Would I recommend it? Probably not. I was more interested in what was going on with the food delivery system half the time. There’s some weird sex stuff that goes on and it’s pretty much all over the place. The ending was alright but a lot of the scenes in between seem like they’re just there for shock value and have absolutely no relevance to character development or the story as a whole.

All that being said, the ending was good (ish). I’m still on the fence about all the other crap that was happening. It doesn’t incorporate as much of a science fiction element as I was thinking it was going to. And… it’s weird man – I don’t know. It was one of those movies that you watch and when it’s over you look at each other like – “What the hell did we just watch?”, “Where we missing something?”.

It wasn’t low budget by any means, so that’s a plus. Artistically, I suppose it was okay. Eh, watch at your own risk. Like I said, I wouldn’t recommend it to science fiction fans if they’re really expecting that element to be very present.

I’m still confused about it. Summed up in one word: WEIRD.