Mute Witness

Yes it is rated 'R' but I try to watch a movie for at least 15 minutes before I judge whether or not to continue watching it. I have watched many 'R' rated movies but none like this. I thought that what was going to happen (a violent scene right at the beginning of the movie) was going to only last a couple of minutes or so, well, I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, I can take movies that have SOME violence, even though I'd prefer that they don't make it so 'vivid'. Well,it dragged on for the next 10 minutes at least. I was hoping, with this movie, that violent scenes would not prevail throughout the movie but when it lasted for the first 15-20 minutes that I watched it, I couldn't take it any more.
I am always on the lookout for a good mystery/suspense movie, but I don't see why they (the film crew) feel it necessary to show it all so 'vividly'. It seems to me, more and more these days, that it is very difficult to find a good movie that has suspense/mystery without a lot of the visually violent scenes. I found that when I watched the movie called "Ghostwriter", (which was also a suspense/mystery movie), there was suspense in that one as well, some violence, but it did not happen throughout the show. I am quite disappointed with this and for this reason I find that what Amazon charges, is not worth my dollar. If you like movies that have scenes of violence, blood and physical abuse, then this is for you. If you are bothered by a lot of this, then for a suspense movie this is NOT for you.

Starts off great but slowly dissolves into a jumbled mess. Genuinely unnerving and worth watching for about an hour. Then, for some reason, the movie goes in a completely different direction. It seems like the film changes directors and scripts right in the middle. Worth seeing especially if you plan to fall asleep or go out before the ending.

As far as directorial debuts are concerned, Anthony Waller's Mute Witness is a very impressive start indeed. It is the type of film that thanks to the boom in DVD market, have been unearthed by the studios from their vault that contains dozens of excellent little films yet waiting to go digital.
A mute American film technician working on a small horror slasher in Moscow accidentally witnesses a 'snuff' movie..this of course leads to edge-of-your-seat chases that are very well filmed, and to the conspiracy behind this gruesome affair, at the centre of which reigns the greatest of them all, Sir Alec Guiness in his last film for cinema before his death (in 2000).
The plot is not flawless of course,(there are just a few, especially in the second half),but the brilliant directing and the development of the plot will more than compensate for that.
Think of Afraid of Dark (the hugely underrated and excellent Brit independant film about a nearly blind boy who also witnesses a murder), and Halloween 2 with its non stop chases down hospital corridors,and you will probably have an idea about Mute Witness. Having said that, it is still an original film (Moscow setting, 'Snuff' movies', Alec Guiness..), and not your average commercial suspense movie the genre and like of which litter the market.
Good performances by all, excellent direction,nail biting scenes, these are all good enough reasons to make Mute Witness a fresh little movie that can be watched and enjoyed again and again.