Calus

This movie is not for everyone, just like another of my favourite movies Drive, but unlike most movies it kept me hooked, and made me feel and care. It is the best movie I've seen in some time.

Although a very different movie from Drive, both have in common that they trust the viewer to pay attention and read between the lines, and are not afraid to take their time to get where they are going.

The acting is top notch and the characters are interesting, deep, flawed and often with unexpected agendas and histories. There is good and bad in everyone, and because we follow the stories of multiple characters it makes the story far richer.

The world building is minimal but effective, and shows us a near future which feels entirely plausible - neither dystopian, nor utopian. I was always eager to see more of the future Berlin and understand the world in which it existed.

The cinematography is masterful in that it puts you right into the story and shows you everything you need to see without excessive flourish.

The movie can be fairly violent at times, but it is fairly minimal by modern standards and it does not dwell on these scenes more than necessary to bring the point home.

I would be remiss if I fail to mention that Mute does fail to trust the audience in a couple of places where it suddenly switches from the slow progression of subtle reveals to crude and very direct explanations in the form of flashbacks. I'm not sure if the intention was to shock, or if the purpose was to ensure everyone was on the same page, but either way this jarred with the rest of the movie for me and should IMHO have ended up on the cutting floor. However, these are just minor flaws in a great gem of a movie.

I enjoyed this movie. Not because it is a brilliant movie, but because it knows what it wants and really goes for it. It was fun, unlike a lot of much more polished and bland big title movies which were suppose to be great, but instead really bored me to tears. Perhaps I'm too cynical and jaded, but most of them are far too predictable and over-produced without getting into a big rant about those movies. The Man with Iron Fists, however, felt honest and the over-the-top weapons and fights were both entertaining and inspirational, while never attempting to be realistic and obviously being a homage to exaggerated wire-fu effects. I laughed, I cared and I enjoyed watching it and that is more than I can say for a lot of the big budget polished productions that try to cleverly tug your heart-strings and manipulate you according to their demographic research for the movie.