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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Renaissance

EMAILPRINTMiramax Films

Renaissance reviews
57
6.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Animation  |  Drama  |  Foreign  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Alexandre de La Patellière
Mathieu Delaporte
Jean-Bernard Pouy (adaptation)
Patrick Raynal (adaptation)

Directed by: Christian Volckman

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 22, 2006

Running Time: 105 minutes, B/W

Origin: France / UK / Luxembourg

Summary

RATING: R for some violent images, sexuality, nudity and language

Starring Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Romola Garai, Jonathan Pryce, Ian Holm, and Rick Warden

Renaissance is a bold vision of a stark near future drenched in hidden secrets and technological frontiers. It takes film noir to its most stylized edge, utilizing live action motion capture, animated in 3D and rendered in high contrast black and white to create graphic novel come-to-life. (Miramax)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film's look is impressive; it's the most successful rotoscoping effort to date (far surpassing Richard Linklater's duo of "Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly"), and causes every frame to drip atmosphere.

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80

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

One of the year’s more luscious releases, offering not just the sleekest car chase but the most romantic of rainstorms.

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75

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Gorgeous and menacing at the same time.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The result is something both fluid and stark, cinematic and comic book-y, and incredible.

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70

Variety Lisa Nesselson

A melancholy actioner that shines a new light on film noir. A sort of "The Third Man" for the 21st century, chiaroscuro curio's level of graphic invention is exceeded only by its pleasingly mournful approach.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Some kind of wonderment.

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63

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Stark eye candy of the first order, the film is saddled with the oldest story this side of "Blade Runner." Still, comic-book fanboys and graphic designers with time to kill should feel no shame in checking this one out.

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60

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A visually wondrous experience in high-contrast black and white, bogged down by a slow, underwrought story and uninvolving characters. It would be easy to dismiss it as another great-looking film with little else to offer, but that wouldn't be entirely true.

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60

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Volckman and Miance are undoubtedly superb draftsmen; what they need is a writer of comparable skill.

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58

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Connoisseurs of digital animation, graphic novels, and the history of dystopian art will have plenty to discuss about Christian Volckman's visually striking, technically impressive black-and-white animated feature Renaissance…But 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.

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50

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Over the course of 105 minutes, the brutal high contrast begins to strain the eyes. Effectively moody as it is, the style makes a convoluted story of corporate greed, high-tech espionage and science run amok even more difficult to follow.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Bernard Besserglik

Pitched as "animation for adults," Renaissance will find an audience among those in the 20-35 age group who enjoy graphic novels, but will disappoint anyone hoping for emotional or intellectual sustenance.

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50

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

For a little while, the film is dazzling. Then it's dizzying. Then it's just kind of . . . wearying. That's not because it's in black-and-white; so was "Sin City". There's just something terribly, tragically dull about Renaissance.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Although intriguing to look at, Renaissance -- the latest animated film geared to adult audiences -- is undone by a plot that is ridiculously hard to follow and hackneyed.

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50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

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.

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50

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A fumbling attempt to create the European equivalent of a Japanese manga thriller in the conspiratorial mold of "Akira" and "Ghost in the Shell" has a stunning look.

Read Full Review >
40

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The director is Christian Volckman, whose skills as an animator greatly exceed his grasp of an idea worth pursuing.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Shaun C. gave it a6:
It's....I'ts interesting, and visually stunning...for a while and then the characters take over...which are quite...shallow, and the dialogue is not the most amazing you've ever heard....it's worth a watch, once

Mike gave it a0:
The visuals got really boring after 10 mins. I felt like there was so much to see, but the black and white animations were very limiting. The story was really boring as well. The movie really didnt have much going for it. Boring, bad story, not intresting characters, and to top it all off bad visuals. Avoid.

Andre R. gave it a9:
Great movie. Very original. If you enjoyed Blade Runner and SIn City you owe it to yourself to watch this.

Soren A. gave it a10:
This movie shows why the everyday american film is for gotten around the world, with it's georgeous visuals, enthralling story, well written dialogue, it shows what american sci-fi films are lacking. This move overcompensates for this years "American" films *cough* Ultraviolet *cough*. Every true sci-fi fan should watch this movie.

Jay W. gave it a2:
Animation exercise was interesting for the first, um, two minutes. Then it was sheer boredom all the way, from the hackneyed female-in-peril plot to the childish dialogue. An insult to the film-noir genre.

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