MutantChronicles

Mutant Chronicles (2008)

This Sci-fi movie is set in an alternate future where corporations run the world and are constantly fighting over the limited resources left on the Earth. During one of these fights they accidentally uncover and start a machine that has been dormant in the Earth for centuries. The machine after being activated takes the dead and dying humans and turns them into mutants, whose only goal is to go out and collect more victims for the machine. Very shortly the mutants have overrun the Earth and the survivors are fleeing the planet. That is except for a small group of soldiers picked by Brother Samuel (Ron Perlman) that he thinks can fulfill an ancient prophecy and destroy the machine. See Brother Samuel is a descendent of the first group of men that stopped the machine and buried it when it first came to the Earth, and their holy book tells how to stop it again.

So I’ve been interested in checking out this movie since I first saw the trailer almost a year ago. See I’m a former gamer so I had a handle on the Mutant Chronicles universe thru the old tabletop game and was interested in seeing what they did with it as a movie. Toss in some familiar faces in the cast and it only heightened my anticipation. But of course when you get as excited as I was to check a movie out, most of the time you are disappointed. Here I have to say that Mutant Chronicles delivers the goods. It does a great job of establishing the “steam punk” world in which it is set. There is a strange combination of modern technology like spaceships, aircraft, modern weapons, etc. with all kinds of steam power and archaic gadgets. So your futuristic military transport plane is steam powered and all the equipment has tons of gears and moving bits to it. This is probably the best live action movie that I’ve ever seen when it comes to creating and showing a world like this. So that was nifty. I also think that the plot is very solid and well thought out. The back-story is laid out quickly and the movie gets right to the action, which is it’s strongest point. Not that the characters aren’t interesting, but this movie is about blowing some mutants away to save the Earth, and it doesn’t lose track of that. From start to finish this is a very exciting and entertaining movie with lots of action.

The cast stars a couple of famous faces in Thomas Jane and Ron Perlman. Perlman does a great job in his role as Brother Samuel. It seems like he has only started to get decent roles like this since the Hellboy series, but I’m glad he is finally getting some roles that show off his acting chops. I also wanted to mention Thomas Jane, who plays the hero of the movie Mitch Hunter. At the beginning of the movie he mostly sulks and doesn’t really do that much. But towards the end he gets to ham it up a bit as an action hero (trying to get the machine working and getting partly “mutantized” are pretty cool). In spite of what the haters of his turn as the Punisher think Jane can be an action hero in the right movie.

So now I have to talk about the 800-pound gorilla in the room. This movie is filled from start to finish with CGI effects. Some of them, like the steam-powered aircraft, are pretty damn good. While others, like the blood spatter on the lens (hate that!) and the kills aren’t so good. If you have ever read any of my reviews you know how I feel about CGI, especially when it replaces what could have been done with practical effects. But I’ve also always said that I can forgive a movie some bad CGI if it was entertaining. So yes there are tons of CG created shots in Mutant Chronicles. Honestly though I can’t see how else they could have made this movie for a reasonable budget without relying heavily on digital effects. Since the movie is as good as it is I don’t really care they used CGI. Heck I’m just glad that I got to check it out.

The DVD that I reviewed for the site is a 2-disc set with the directors cut of the movie and a second DVD filled with special features. This includes a lengthy and cool making of called, appropriately enough The Making of Mutant Chronicles: A Documentary. As a fan of the movie I highly recommend you check it out. Also included on disc 2 are the Comic-Con panel, some webisodes, a short teaser film, and a ton of other stuff. Many times I look at a two-disc DVD set and wonder why they bothered with a 2nd disc, but this really is packed with all sorts of goodies.

I’m a big sci-fi geek and I’ll admit that most science fiction movies tend to be a little of the slow side. So when one comes around that is a blast and fun to watch I’m all over it. That is how I feel about Mutant Chronicles. I recommend that everyone at least give this one a chance on rental, but if you are a science fiction fan you might want to head out and buy yourself a copy. For more information on how to do that check out the Magnet Releasing website for where you can pick up this title at http://www.magnetreleasing.com/index.html

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer