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In 2054,
Paris is a labyrinth where all movement is monitored and recorded. Cut
off from the world for its own protection, the city has nonetheless
continued to expand. Now, 21st century skyscrapers overlay centuries-old
architectural masterpieces. And below street level, a sophisticated
network of streamlined plazas push up against the city's ancient,
deteriorating tunnel systems. Casting a shadow over everything is the
city's largest company, Avalon, which insinuates itself into every
aspect of contemporary life to sell its primary export--eternal youth
and beauty. When 22-year-old Ilona (Romola Garai), one of Avalon's most
promising scientists, is abruptly kidnapped, Avalon calls on Barthélémy
Karas (Daniel Craig), a Paris cop
with a hard-fought reputation for finding anyone, no matter what
sacrifices he has to make along the way. As the trail gets hot, Karas
senses he's not the only one looking for the beautiful enigma, and every
witness he digs up seems to turn up dead. To find Ilona and unlock the
secrets of her disappearance, Karas must plunge deep into the parallel
worlds of corporate espionage, organized crime and genetic research
where the truth imprisons whoever finds it first and miracles can either
save the world, or end it.
I want to
state for the record, that I know very little about Noir films. The only
experiences I have had are the newer examples, which are mostly
homage’s. Films like Brick, Femme
Fatale, Blade Runner and so forth. Hell, I don’t really know what
noir means! So if you are a big fan of noir films, please excuse my
ignorance.
The first
thing that grabs you is the animation. If Sin City brought a comic book
to life while actually keeping with style of Frank Miller's work, then
Renaissance brings a comic to full 2D life. Looking as if every frame
could be a panel from a graphic novel, Renaissance shows that you can
make a comic book-like movie without being a cartoon. The only thing
missing is the dialogue balloons. I am not going to go on about the
animation, even though that is the most striking thing about this film,
because most other reviews will probably focus on this aspect of the
film.
Director
Christian Volkman mixes elements of Blade Runner, 1984 (Not the Van
Halen record), Sin City and The Matrix to create this futuristic crime
story. Helping him is an excellent voice cast including Daniel Craig as
Karas, Ian Holm as Dr. Jonas Muller, and Jonathan Pryce as Paul
Dellenbach, the CEO of Avalon. The other two leads – Bislane and Ilona
Tasuiev, are played admirably by Catherine McCormack and Romola Garai,
respectively.
The story
is a straightforward crime drama with all of the expected twists and
turns. Which I don’t want to go into detail about as those twists are
half the fun of crime dramas. What really makes this movie believable,
well, as believable as an animated movie set in the future can be, is
that the technology shown is not the flashy type seen in films such as
MIB and Star Wars. It seemed like most of the advances were practical in
nature. No BFG’s or anything like that. There was some interesting
product placement though. The communication devices used by the police
are tiny, about the size of a dime, and stick directly on the neck with
the Motorola “M” shown prominently. Another scene shows a billboard for
Coca-Cola Light. While I noticed these placements, they weren’t
obtrusive. The only real problem I had with the movie is that after a
while the animation got to me a little. While having as much detail as
possible, there is only so much you can do with plack and white. My
opinion is that it needed some shades of gray to add some depth.
Final
thoughts? This movie edges over the line past novelty film and into the
realm of an interesting film that uses the animation not as a gimmick,
but as a different type of palette with which to paint the story. This
isn’t a movie I will buy when it comes out on DVD, but I will rent it.
These types of dramas are always worth a second viewing to see if you
can catch the clues.
Here is a
way to tell how much I enjoyed it. I only looked at my watch once during
the viewing. And that was with about a half hour left to the film. I may
actually start using that idea to rate films. What do you think?
So, until
Taco Bell wins the fast food wars,
keep reading
Mitch
Emerson
Best Line:
Karas:
“First we find her, then we sleep.”
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