Renaissance
2.5/4
Starring (voices): Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Jonathan Pryce, Ian Holm, Romola Garai
Rated R for Violent Images, Sexuality, Nudity and Language
"Sin City" was a comic book come to life. So is "Renaissance," albeit in a different way. Robert Rodriguez used CGI and real actors with the panels from the comics used as templates for his camera shots. "Renaissance" used motion capture technology and computers to make it seem like a black and white comic book come to life. The result is astounding; it's so great that the film is almost worth seeing just for that. If only the same could be said for the plot...
Paris, 2054. A young scientist named Illona Tasuiev (Garai) has been kidnapped. Detective Barthelemy Karas (Crag) is on the case. Of course, the more he investigates, the greater the danger.
"Renaissance," which has nothing to do with the historical time period, is a futuristic detective story. Karas meets all sorts of low-lifes and freaks, and gets pulled into a crazy story involving a shady conglomerate and bad science experiments. But it all doesn't make any sense. I had trouble figuring out who was who and what they knew.
The film starts off on the wrong foot. It doesn't set the stage, and in a science fiction story where the setting is so important, this is a fatal mistake. It continues to make mistakes all the way through because when we get information about the story, we don't get a sense of its significance. For example, just how big is Avalon, the company that plays such a huge part in this story? Is it a Big Brother-type business that controls the world, or is it a Wal-Mart-sized one (granted, Wal-Mart's size is big enough that it might be a bad contrast, but I hope you get the idea). And what about progeria, the disease that serves as a catalyst for the story? Is it an epidemic, or is it as relatively small as it is in real life? These are questions that a film like this must answer, but "Renaissance" doesn't. It doesn't provide a context for what happens.
The voice acting is terrific, which helped me avoid total boredom. Daniel Craig, the reliable character actor that he is, fully disappears into the role (it helps that his animated alter-ego looks nothing like the actor, although such a discrepancy can work against the audience's acceptance of a character if the actor isn't talented enough). It's not a great character, but Craig sells it. Catherine McCormick, who hasn't done anything big since "Spy Game," is also very good as Bislane, Illona's black sheep of a sister (who inevitably falls for Karas, although this subplot is so underdeveloped that it wasn't worth keeping in the film). Jonathan Pryce and Ian Holm provide solid support as well.
The film is too short. More time filling in the holes would make this movie much more compelling. It's a shame, really, since the film looks so great (despite the coloring, there is little confusion about who is who or what is happening on screen, which I initially feared would happen after seeing the trailer). There is real suspense and the action scenes are well choreographed. Pity about the story.
Starring (voices): Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Jonathan Pryce, Ian Holm, Romola Garai
Rated R for Violent Images, Sexuality, Nudity and Language
"Sin City" was a comic book come to life. So is "Renaissance," albeit in a different way. Robert Rodriguez used CGI and real actors with the panels from the comics used as templates for his camera shots. "Renaissance" used motion capture technology and computers to make it seem like a black and white comic book come to life. The result is astounding; it's so great that the film is almost worth seeing just for that. If only the same could be said for the plot...
Paris, 2054. A young scientist named Illona Tasuiev (Garai) has been kidnapped. Detective Barthelemy Karas (Crag) is on the case. Of course, the more he investigates, the greater the danger.
"Renaissance," which has nothing to do with the historical time period, is a futuristic detective story. Karas meets all sorts of low-lifes and freaks, and gets pulled into a crazy story involving a shady conglomerate and bad science experiments. But it all doesn't make any sense. I had trouble figuring out who was who and what they knew.
The film starts off on the wrong foot. It doesn't set the stage, and in a science fiction story where the setting is so important, this is a fatal mistake. It continues to make mistakes all the way through because when we get information about the story, we don't get a sense of its significance. For example, just how big is Avalon, the company that plays such a huge part in this story? Is it a Big Brother-type business that controls the world, or is it a Wal-Mart-sized one (granted, Wal-Mart's size is big enough that it might be a bad contrast, but I hope you get the idea). And what about progeria, the disease that serves as a catalyst for the story? Is it an epidemic, or is it as relatively small as it is in real life? These are questions that a film like this must answer, but "Renaissance" doesn't. It doesn't provide a context for what happens.
The voice acting is terrific, which helped me avoid total boredom. Daniel Craig, the reliable character actor that he is, fully disappears into the role (it helps that his animated alter-ego looks nothing like the actor, although such a discrepancy can work against the audience's acceptance of a character if the actor isn't talented enough). It's not a great character, but Craig sells it. Catherine McCormick, who hasn't done anything big since "Spy Game," is also very good as Bislane, Illona's black sheep of a sister (who inevitably falls for Karas, although this subplot is so underdeveloped that it wasn't worth keeping in the film). Jonathan Pryce and Ian Holm provide solid support as well.
The film is too short. More time filling in the holes would make this movie much more compelling. It's a shame, really, since the film looks so great (despite the coloring, there is little confusion about who is who or what is happening on screen, which I initially feared would happen after seeing the trailer). There is real suspense and the action scenes are well choreographed. Pity about the story.
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