Renaissance 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: An empty experience; lots of shadow and noise, adding up to very little. Read more

Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Its dark images echo in the mind's eye. And for that alone, it's worth seeing. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Renaissance's failures as a boffo genre exercise pale next to its achievements as a piece of moving pop art. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A comic book -- mint condition, double-bagged -- that leaves you impressed only with its pristine hollowness. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Renaissance is a dark joy to inhabit once you jettison the idea of a satisfying narrative. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: No one will be talking about the movie's banal plot, the trite dialogue, or any of the indistinguishable characters who offer a bleak futuristic vision of cinema that's all style, no soul. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It's unfortunate that it's all in the service of a story as dull as it is complicated, though if you can make it to the end without drifting off, there is a small reward. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: [Director] Volckman's vision, however unrelentingly monochromatic, does just enough with 'motion capture' to persuade you that it could tell substantive, even provocative grown-up stories. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The audience has layers of plot twists to sift through, with no great reward at the end for the investment. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: With its halfhearted script, stiff performances and overlong running time, this is the kind of movie that's simultaneously dazzling to look at, and increasingly tough to sit through. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It might be hyperbole to call Renaissance unique, but it is very different from most films that open in theaters, and it's worth going a few extra miles to seek out, especially if this is a genre that holds appeal. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Undone by a plot that is ridiculously hard to follow and hackneyed. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: For its retro-futurist look alone, this outdated thriller set in 2054 Paris is worth seeing. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Gratifyingly downbeat and far more coherent than the Japanese anime movies to which it also owes a debt, Renaissance intelligently explores the ethical complexities of genetic manipulation. Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: It's a testament to the production design that one quickly gets caught up in the story without ever completely losing the "ooh-ahh" factor. Ominous, wall-to-wall music bolsters the appropriately uneasy mood, and the bittersweet conclusion is satisfying. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It's film noir, with too much noir for its own good. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: This chiaroscuro thriller is more visually arresting than narratively convincing, and as the police procedural unfolds, what might have been a sly cautionary tale, a la this summer's A Scanner Darkly, becomes merely procedural. Read more