... Maximillian von Steiner]
Anna Walton [Severian]
'The Machine' - at the end of the Ice Age it was sent to Earth in order to change humans into mutants, however... it was defeated and sealed beneath the Earth.
2707 - the world is in chaos, its resources depleted, and the ruling four ... Read review
Mutant Chronicles DVD
In the year 2707 Earth's natural resources have been exhausted by mankind. Battle rages ... more
between the soldiers of four leading Corporations: Capitol Bauhaus Mishima and Imperial. When the violence breaks an ancient stone seal Necromutants appear and begin to multiply by the millions destroying all before them. The Corporation's leader Constantine (John Malkovich) is about to abandon the planet and leave countless innocents to their desperate fate when he is approached by Brother Samuel leader of the Brotherhood an ancient monastic order who offers hope to the discouraged leader. Against the odds Constantine entrusts brother Samuel and other like minded soldiers to save them from the mutant armies.
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Production Year: 2006 - Science Fiction - Director: James Hawes - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Penelope Wilton, David Tennant, Billie Piper
Production Year: 2008 - Science Fiction - Director: Doug Liman - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christensen
A review by GoFigure on The Mutant Chronicles DVD April 7th, 2009
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Disliked it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Weak
Special Effects
Weak
How does it compare to similar films?
Unmemorable
Advantages:
Good atmosphere and makeup .
Disadvantages:
Read on . . .
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
Director: Simon Hunter Writer: Philip Eisner Genre: Action - Adventure - Sci-Fi Country: USA Certification: 18 Language: English DVD Release: 16th February, 2009
MAIN CAST:
Thomas Jane [Maj. 'Mitch' Hunter] Ron Perlman [Brother Samuel] Devon Aoki [Cpl. Valerie Duval] Sean Pertwee [Capt. Nathan Rooker] Benno Fürmann [Lt. Maximillian von Steiner] Anna Walton [Severian]
'The Machine' - at the end of the Ice Age it was sent to Earth in order to change humans into mutants, however... it was defeated and sealed beneath the Earth.
2707 - the world is in chaos, its resources depleted, and the ruling four 'Corporations' [Bauhaus, Mishima, Capitol, Imperial] are at war... a war that is everlasting... until one day, in the midst of a battle, an errant shell destroys the seal that has imprisoned 'The Machine' and a horde of necro-mutants are released onto the battlefield in order to gather the dead and dying, and to take them to 'The Machine' in order to be transformed into hideous mutants with swords that grow from their arms.
A portion of Earth's population manages to escape to Mars, but millions are left behind in order to fend for themselves.
Brother Samuel, leader of the 'Brotherhood', an ancient monastic order which guards the 'Chronicles', a sacred book that prophesies the rise of 'The Machine' that will attempt to destroy humanity, and the arrival of the 'Deliverer' who will defeat it. Brother Samuel believes that he is the 'Deliverer', and approaches Constantine, the leader of one of the Corporations, in order to request twenty soldiers and an aircraft for a suicide mission that will take them deep underground in order to confront 'The Machine'.
Constantine gives Brother Samuel an aircraft, but instead of giving him soldiers, he gives him passes onto spaceships headed for Mars... passes which he can use in order to recruit soldiers. With those left behind facing a certain death, the passes are extremely valuable, which allows Brother Samuel to tempt a few war-toughened stragglers to follow him on his suicide mission. The stragglers, a mix of soldiers from the four 'Corporations', all have one thing in common [except for one]... they need the passes in order to save loved ones, and will do whatever it takes.
'The Mutant Chronicles', much in the same vein as 'DragonQuest', was about as enjoyable to watch as a turd floating in a swimming pool... the first startled exclamation being 'what the!' followed by a 'gross'. This just about sums it up as far as my opinion goes.
I've decided to divide this review into three sections... the 'good', the 'bad' and the 'ugly'.
The 'good', as you may already suspect, will be quite short - the atmosphere of this movie is pretty good, the screenshots, the insertion of numerous battles, the mutants' makeup, even the storyline serves to make this movie one that is not totally without worth. The mutants are suitably disgusting-looking, and the entire principle of dragging the dead and dying off to 'The Machine' in order to be recycled is somewhat fascinating, in fact--it's almost mesmerising at times. There is that dark and heavy atmosphere, that end-of-the-world cloud of doom that hangs over everything and is omnipresent and omnipotent.
Thomas Jane, who plays Major Mitch Hunter, manages to give a credible performance along with Anna Walton, who plays Severian, the 'Chronicles' sword-wielding guardian. Mitch and Severian are strong characters, warriors, selfless and brave, and fully prepared to die in order to save humanity from 'The Machine'. They are also the only two characters who are believable.
The 'bad' section is a bit lengthier... my major gripe with this movie is that it is supposed to take place in 2707 - a full 698 years into the future - yet the battle scenes are reminiscent of WWII... in fact, the clothing, gear and some of the uniforms could have been used in any of the hundreds of war movies made following the war. Apart from a few neat laser weapons and flame-throwers, technology took a backseat in this movie. Easily recognisable are weapons from this era, and the 'steam' schematics of the aircraft and other vehicles, although reinforcing the fact that the world's resources have been depleted, are reminiscent of the 'Industrial Revolution'... late 18th - early 19th centuries. There is this 'old' feel to everything, including the visuals of the movie, as though everything, including the story, has been recycled.
No doubt the very worse aspect of this movie are the special-effects, if they can be called 'special'... similar, once again, to the patchy special-effects found in 'DragonQuest', it was an ordeal not to wince when swords smashed into 'fake' heads, or blood and guts spurted out like ketchup shooting out from a squeezy bottle. It was almost laughable at times - luckily the makeup artist knew what he/she was about and managed to save the day.
The dialogue is incredibly inane and yawn-inducing, and this, matched with poor acting skills on behalf of most of the cast has reinforced my opinion that if you're going to make a B-movie, try to at least get an A-cast.
The 'ugly' section award, obviously, goes to Brother Samuel and the necro-mutants for being, without a doubt, the ugliest characters ever created... apart, perhaps, for Hellboy!
Advantages: Looks great Disadvantages: Weak ending
...fantasy
films and you get The Mutant Chronicles.
I personally haven't heard of the Role Playing Game this is based on
(because I'm not that much of a nerd) but fans of Silent Hill and Quake
4 will all be crying that this has mercilessly ripped off their ideas.
Which is completely wrong as the original RPG was written way back in
1993 predating Quake 4 by 12 years and Silent Hill by 6 years so it
appears the plot of this game has proved to ... ...movie having previously starred in The Mist (and we had no clue why he
was the star in that either), The Punisher (the incredibly weak remake
that made Dolph Lungren's version look good) and Deep Blue Sea so he's
hardly what you call star material. I assume they cast him because he
looked good in the costume and gave off a suitably pretty vibe to the
women in the room.
If we're honest John Malkovich is the biggest star in the movie but
he's ...
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Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful
18.11.2008
A MUTANT of a film Review ofThe Mutant Chronicles DVDby
Maximus-Qualitus
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Everything.
The Mutant Chronicles.
It came from space………
It came to change man into mutants…..
A war followed and was just about won.
The machine was buried in the earth so it could do no more harm and there it waits……to be discovered.
The year is 2707 and four corporations rule the whole world and battle each other endlessly.
The movie begins with trench warfare and even though set in the future it clearly depicts that war never changes no matter what ... ...and hand to hand combat. The fighting is fierce and then the 'Machine 'is found. A portal opens and the mutants begin to escape, suddenly the soldiers and not fighting each other they're fighting for their lives. The mutants have only one objective to butcher anything that isn't a mutant and this they do very efficiently.
You are still only 13 minutes into the movie!
The start of the movie is at night and with the flashes from the artillery and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: fast-paced, well acted, full of horror Disadvantages: blue screen effects are terrible
...set seven hundred years in the future, when the world is divided. This is not Simon Hunter's first movie, however he is a reasonably new director. His 2000 movie Lighthouse, a British horror flick, recieved two awards at film festivals. This story is based loosley on The Mutant Chronicles role playing game of the 90's. The Mutant Chronicles is rated as an 18, and features intense scenes of violence. The cast of the movie is littered with faces we ... ...Ron Perlman. The film is set in the year 2707, when the world has exhausted its natural resources, and relies primarily on steam as a power source.
The world is divided into four factions, Bauhaus, Mishima, Imperial and Capitol, who battle one another for power, and world dominance.
In the midst of a war between Bauhaus and Capitol, an ancient seal is broken, unearthing an evil that threatens to aniolate mankind. Sean Pertwee, who played Sergeant ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good Cast, Nice Effects Disadvantages: The Editing affected the pace in places
I have to disagree with the first review. YES some of the concepts have been used before in Movies, BUT these concepts were used first in both Warzone (a Wargame set in the Mutant Chronicles Universe) and in the RPG Mutant Chronicles. No lighting problems for me, as I bought my copy (the Bootlegs drifting around on the net are very 'dark'). The film drops you straight in the action, then takes the pace down quite nicely to give you the main Story ... ...My only issue is with the editing, it does tend to slow things down in places. All the cast did really well, its very difficult to convey the complexities of such a complex Universe as that of the Mutant Chronicles, but the Writer and the Director did well - the cast they chose were just right IMHO. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: The score would work if it was attached to a better film. Disadvantages: The direction, performances, writing and effects are all disgracefully bad.
...The world's natural resources have been exhausted and the planet is ruled by four competing corporations; Capitol, Bauhaus, Mishima and Imperial. Their soldiers wage war on their behalf, trying to gain new ground. But when a battle between Capitol and Bauhaus soldiers breaks an ancient stone seal, the earth has more to worry about as the planet is overrun by hideous mutants with bone blades that grow out of their arms. Veteran Capitol soldier Mitch Hunter escapes but his best friend Nathan Rooker is taken. The mutants multiply and destroy all before them. Constantine, leader of the Corporations is approached by head of the Brotherhood, Brother Samuel who thinks he can stop the mutant scourge. He is keeper of the Chronicles, a book that prophesies the rise of the mutants and talks of the 'Deliverer', who will destroy them. Samuel believes...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful 24.12.2008
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