I waited for my local Blockbuster's single copy of this film to come back in stock so I could watch it. I had extremely high hopes for Renaissance. I am a fanatic for good science fiction and the visual style thrilled me just watching the trailer.
I wish I could say the movie is as action-packed as the trailer makes it out to be. This isn't the Matrix, though it is clearly heavily influenced by it. There are also traces of Blade Runner here, with a noirish style. That's not to say the story isn't original. It's very entertaining, but I couldn't decide whether the movie was a calculated attempt at making us see the fallacy of beauty and immortality or a roller coaster of thrills.
The visual style is amazing, however. With the exception of the lip-syncing, I have never before seen computer generated animation bring such life-like movement to human characters. The strong, black-and-white coloring removes the texture from things that usually end up making real life hard to create on a computer, like skin and hair. What you end up with instead is something that doesn't try to pretend it's not animation.
There is almost no gray in the picture. The only such color comes in reflections. This seems, though, that it would have been a style of filmmaking better suited for a movie like Equilibrium. There it would have realized the severe contrast between people with emotions and their oppressors. Here, there are no two specific sides. An overwhelming corporation bent on bringing beauty to the masses becomes the backdrop for a plot about Barthelemy Karas, a tough cop, tracks down a kidnapped woman and stumbles upon a corporate scheme, a puzzle whose pieces have been scattered and hidden well.
The plot is actually rather simple, but both my wife and I found ourselves vaguely confused since you are given no introduction whatsoever or even clues as to what characters are talking about. I can't remember character names, mostly because the characters whose names are said frequently (aside from Ilona, the kidnapped woman) get killed off in rapid succession. By the end of the movie, of course, everything makes sense. I was a little underwhelmed to discover the simplicty of the story after I had found myself so confused.
I still can't not recommend this movie. It's great entertainment and the film is a wonder to watch, even if only for its pure aesthetic value. And if you like the Matrix and Blade Runner, you'll probably like Renaissance a whole lot and even recommend it to others.