Mute Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

5. The Pacing Isn't Great

Mute clocks in at a meaty 126 minutes, and you will certainly feel the extent of that length by the time it's all over.

Pacing is a real issue here, with Jones taking his time to tell his not especially compelling story, and clearly hoping that the visuals will help fill in the blanks.

Jones is obviously trying to pull a Blade Runner and create a meditative, moody film that's in no rush to move along, but without the filmmaking finesse of a director like Ridley Scott or Denis Villleneuve, nor a sufficiently involving script, it ends up feeling more airless than contemplative.

There are frequent lurches in pace where it feels like things should ramp up, but Jones usually goes in the total opposite direction and cranks things down a few more notches.

Simply, the film could've used another pass in the edit bay before being picture-locked.