Renaissance Reviews

The picture is visually stark - at times imagining Fritz Lang had directed The Matrix - and isolated compositions, spiked with high contrast menace, are impressive in their artistic detail. However, the perfunctory plot is B-grade sci-fi.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

The script's fusion of B-movie crime cliches and dystopian futurism, if not exactly original, is nonetheless vigorously engaging, and the English-language voice cast is good enough to make the existential noodling seem like real dialogue.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Visually impressive sci-fi noir

Full Review | Original Score: B

The visuals of Christian Volckman's film blow away just about everything else on the screen this year.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

It is more Sin City (the graphic novel) than Sin City (the movie)! Or at least on a purely visual level . . .

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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.

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There are no grey shadings in the film's visual palette to match the characters' more equivocal moralities, and the result is a dark, dark world occasionally exposed to the most harsh and unforgiving of lights.

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Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Renaissance is a victory of style over substance and technology over art, but to score a real win, the filmmakers need to strike a better balance between the two.

Full Review | Original Score: 73/100

The inky blacks and bright whites make for a really interesting, printed look that's unique...

Full Review | Original Score: B

Volckman and his collaborators have done a remarkable visual job that compares favourably with Sin City. The threatening nocturnal mood constantly amazes in a 'How did they do that?' sort of way.

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While the story is not compelling, the style of the film is amazing.

Full Review | Original Score: C+

A pic of true craftsmanship that dazzles until it wears out its welcome and becomes a drag.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

For its retro-futurist look alone, this outdated thriller set in 2054 Paris is worth seeing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

If you have the time and densely plotted potboilers are your thing, it's worth the trip.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Its dark images echo in the mind's eye. And for that alone, it's worth seeing.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

Less interesting for its story than for its look, with a camera that does things live-action movies can't.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

A worthy effort: close but no cigar.

| Original Score: 2.7/5

Renaissance is more than mere eye candy. It sneaks into deeper, darker places - a dream world of shadowy menace.

| Original Score: 3/4

Renaissance is a dark joy to inhabit once you jettison the idea of a satisfying narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5