Renaissance

Review By: Aaron Cutler
Aaron Cutler@TheCinemaSource.com

Renaissance has a visionary look and a conventional storyline, and the originality of one next to the ordinariness of the other ultimately proves frustrating. The film would not be worth watching were it not for its visuals; as things stands, the eye candy factor almost makes it worth it.

An amalgamation of The Matrix, Metropolis, Sin City, Dark City and every other sci-fi movie having to do with a city as well as every cop movie ever made, Renaissance takes place in a Paris of the future, where criminals prowl the streets at night and a gigantic company called Avalon promises to cure the effects of aging. It is here one night that Avalon researcher Ilona Tasuiev (voice of Romola Garai) is kidnapped, and crack police officer Karas (voice of Daniel Craig) is sent to rescue her. Along the way he falls into a relationship with her sister, Bislane (voice of Catherine McCormack), and learns that big bad Avalon has been up to no good. Meanwhile, Ilona is trapped in a surreal vanishing forest supervised by a midget in a tower who reads like a cross-pollination between Sin City’s Yellow Bastard and Christof from The Truman Show.

But enough of the story; let’s talk about the look. Renaissance is a French film shot, much like Richard Linklater’s Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, in live action, with animators then drawing over the images to create a stylized effect. The images exist in stark black-and-white, with a sharp, angular two-dimensionality vaguely reminiscent of the animated Batman series in the early ‘90s. Pools of light and shadow gradually blend into each other, and at one point two faces actually merge. We get the sense throughout that we are watching a dark comic book put into motion, with ravishing-looking cityscapes and grim archetypes of human beings.

But enough of the look; let’s talk about the story. A hallmark of memorable science fiction has been its ability to bring its audience into the world in which its action is taking place, either utilizing voiceover to help explain the world to its audience (Blade Runner) or entering the world through the point of view of a clueless outsider (The Matrix and Dark City) who acts as the audience’s stand-in so that we find out about the place along with him. Renaissance does neither, leaving its audience struggling to figure out what is going on.

When we find out, though, we are saddened to learn that it isn’t all that interesting. Our protagonist Karas is a dour good-looking fellow who strikes a series of brooding poses in a series of typical scenes. There is the opening hostage crisis, wherein he’s told by HQ not to go in but does anyway, saves the day and then is chastised for his actions. There is the scene where he meets with a fat crime boss surrounded by beautiful naked girls. ...