First Images Released for Mute, Duncan Jones’ Sci-Fi Film for Netflix

Alexander Skarsgård stands against the backdrop of a neon city in the first images for Duncan Jones’ new film, Mute. Taking visual cues from noir and science fiction all at once, these images bear a heavy resemblance to the street views seen in Blade Runner.

The film’s synopsis reads as follows:

Berlin. Forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Skarsgård), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most.

Now, that sounds pretty awesome. Paul Rudd as a villainous, mustachioed (Sex Panther by Odeon, anyone?) black-market surgeon, who also happens to be linked to the local mafia is an interesting venture.

Visually, this film is promising to be striking, and Jones himself has likened it to a cross between Casablanca and Blade Runner. Noir and sci-fi, when blended correctly, can be a delicious concoction. It also seems to be a type of Orpheus journey that Leo will be going on to save the one he loves, which is incredibly exciting as a narrative. Hopefully, due to his decent track record in the past, Jones will deliver on all of these themes. Two of his previous films, Moon and Source Code, both added a breath of fresh air to the sci-fi genre, and so far this is genuinely promising. However … he was at the helm of one of the summer’s most critically derided films in Warcraft. So here’s hoping for good things and a return to form after a creative dud.

Mute will be released on Netflix sometime in 2017, accompanied by a theatrical release. Check out Paul Rudd and a near-unrecognizable Justin Theroux as the underground surgeon duo in the first-look photos (which you can click to enlarge) below.