Renaissance

Paris in 2042 and an employee of the health & beauty giant Avalon goes missing. Her employer wants her found urgently and the case is assigned to a jaded policed captain called Karas. Karas teams up with Bislane, the sister of the missing scientist and together they find connections between Avalon, buried research, underworld bosses and a discovery that Avalon is frantic to get its hands on.

Renaissance came to me with reviews that praised the style but noted that the story limited how good the film was as a final product. I tried not to watch it with this in mind but it was difficult because the collected wisdom is correct in this case and this is just how the film plays out. The plot is a slow starter mainly because the start is where the characters and depth is supposed to come in, with the "action" and reveals coming later. Unfortunately but perhaps unsurprisingly the film doesn't have this depth early on and it didn't really engage me, leaving the potentially complex plot to slightly confuse me while also failing to grab my attention. This changes as the film goes on and things become clearer and I did get more interested in the second half on the way to a solid ending for this type of thing.

Obviously the main selling point of the film is the animation and the visual style. In this regard the film is rather superficial until you get into it, then after a while it is cool and broody, full of shadow and atmosphere. Such a shame then that with all the cool visuals, we are given English cast that deliver such flat and dull performances by contrast. Craig is a distinctive voice of course but he seems to focus on this rather than working on his character. Holm is a bit better and appears to be putting a bit of effort into it but Pryce and others drift by without having a lot of material to work with. Always nice to hear Sosanya's tones but she has a tiny part.

Renaissance is very much the product of the approach that made it. Visually it is impressive with oodles of style but the story, although it gets better, is not as engaging as I was hoping for and the performances are surprisingly and disappointingly flat.

If you've ever seen the trailer for the film "The Recruit" with Colin Farrell and Al Pacino, you'll never have to see that film. Sadly, Renaissance has had similarly revelatory trailer makers.

The story of Renaissance is about a detective investigating the kidnapping of a young woman and medical researcher. The setting is a futuristic Paris, and science fiction elements feature throughout. The special thing about Renaissance, though, is its visual style, and not its story. Renaissance is 3D computer animation, like Final Fantasy, but highly stylised into black and white with ultra sharp contrasts. The result looks stunning (although the problems of 3D animation of human beings are still noticeable from time to tome: slightly robotic movements, slightly wooden facial acting, etc) As a highly stylised, beautiful film noir, Renaissance succeeds at stunning the audience, especially visually. The story and writing, though, are not quite at the same level of quality as the visuals. It's not a bad story (and presumably, if you haven't seen the trailer, it's a lot more exciting than it was for me). But it is a story that isn't highly original, and verges on the corny. A few lines of dialogue were painfully corny, making the writing sound like a beginner's first efforts.

I will definitely recommend Renaissance to friends. It's unlike anything I've seen before, visually, and I believe its originality alone makes it a worthwhile experience. It is also a watchable story, even if it isn't perfect.

Set in 2054 Paris, Renaissance has Daniel Craig voicing our protagonist, a (surprisingly) renegade cop investigating the kidnapping of a woman, after she disappeared from a club. His plight is further complicated when he uncovers seedy information about Avalon, the city's biggest company, who may have something to do with her disappearance. This relatively uninspiring tale of one man's search to uncover the truth behind a global conglomerate's surge towards everlasting youth and beauty is told through an interesting choice of cinematography and style: a mixture of rotoscope and fluid animation, all done in black and white palette. Whilst this initially looks relatively impressive, the novelty of it wears off fast, and inevitably looks unimpressive. It is certainly not a patch on similarly styled films of the past such as A Scanner Darkly (2006) or Sin City (2005). Fans of video games will get the feeling they are watching one really long cut-scene. The plot, possessing whatever little resonance it has, is done no favours by the completely clunky dialogue, delivered as monotonously as you'd like from the voice talent. It's a shame because there were things I really wanted to like about Renaissance. The only times it feels like really clicking in to second gear are the all too brief action scenes. There's a half-decent shootout within a green house, and a rather cartoonish car chase. But the characters are all far too hackneyed and one-dimensional: the blabbering scientist, the rogue cop, the femme fatale, the cackling bad guy, sprightly vodka drinking Russians, believe me – they all make an appearance. This certainly isn't a patch on Anime Manga, nor does it posses any of the depth that made Ghost In The Shell a three-dimensional experience. An intriguing, if inevitably unsatisfying experience.

I highly recommend this film. Set in the Bladerunner-esquire future of 2054 Paris, it is in most respect a classic film noir script: lady in peril, sister trying to find her, honest cop fighting everyone. Luckily, it avoids being stereotypical, and combines a pretty good storyline with interesting, innovative visuals. The film might remind you of Sin City in look, but it has an even sharper, even more graphic novel look that I found really compelling. Each frame, each sequence seems like it could have been pulled from the desk of a skilled graphic designer. In terms of story and artwork, you can find nods going back to the nineteen forties (or even earlier with the classic views of the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Couer) and movies like Casablanca, as well as looking toward a grim future where our destines are ruled by corporations. Make any excuse you need to see this film.

First things first, this movie is achingly beautiful. A someone who works on 3D CG films as a lighter/compositor, the visuals blew me away. Every second I was stunned by what was on screen As for the story, well, it's okay. It's not going to set the world on fire, but if you like your futuristic Blade Runner-esquire tales (and who doesn't?) then you will be fine.

I do have to say that I felt the voice acting was particularly bland and detracted from the movie as a whole. I saw it at the cinema in English, but I am hoping that there is a French version floating around somewhere.

Definitely worth seeing.