[The Mutant Chronicles]
Plot:Set in the 23rd century...various companies have pillaged the earths resources causing a horde of necromutants to wage war against humans, destroying almost all of them.

Cast:Thomas Jane, John Malkovich, Stephen Rea, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki.

My Thoughts:Good movie.

Review:"The Mutant Chronicles" from director Simon Hunter, and writer Philip Eisner is an apocalyptic tale which blends it's roots with futuristic terror. The film is set in the 23rd century where the world's resources are scarce, and what's left of them have been raided and taken by various corporations. What little resources that haven't been taken, are fought over by these corporations who constantly pound each other with everything from artillery fire, to gunfire from the soldiers that they employ. But this fighting eventually has consequences, terrifying ones.

When the constant ground-pounding by shell fire unearths an intergalactic machine, which remained buried and in stasis...the machine then begins to turn the thousands of dead or dying into vicious, bloodthirsty necromutants. As their numbers quickly grow, they attack the humans, soldier, and otherwise. These mutants are damn near unstoppable, and extremely deadly. So deadly in fact that the warring corporations have no military answer for them. The only thing to do now is to once again shut down the mutation machine.

Now, a religious man named Brother Samuel (Perlman), is forced by his superiors to build a team for the mission, a team which includes Major Mitch Hunter (Jane), Valerie Duval (Aoki), and others. This team with their various skills in combat and "wrecking stuff"...is humanities last hope at stopping the machine and destroying the mutants once and for all. "The Mutant Chronicles" is a spectacular horror/sci-fi/action hybrid, and no more is it spectacular than visually. The films angles and overall look and tone resembles a comic-book transferred directly from the page to the film reel.

The movie looks great, and is also very well acted. Thomas Jane takes the lead role in the picture and completely owns it. Perlman as the gentile, god-fearing brother Samuel shows off his acting range in a non-bad-ass role, which is a rareity for Perlman who whether playing hero or villain, is always smacking someone around and loving every minute of it. Although there does come a point in the film where he finally lays a mild smackdown on a few folks, but I won't spoil it here. Devon Aoki is the top female-dawg of the film, and she kicks but but her character in this film isn't as confrontational as her character from "Sin City".

Aoki mostly takes the backseat to Jane and the mutants in this film. Although the movie just wouldn't have been the same without her moments of saving her comrades from grissly fates, and adding an element of beauty to the movie from an eye-candy perspective. The mutants are the sole antagonists of the film, and they are a force to be reckoned with for sure. They're similar to the crawlers from "The Descent"...ugly, quick moving, and always good for the element of surprise...attacking from the darkness or from behind. They also sport metallic splinters on their hands, large sharp ones.

Which can slice through human flesh like swiss cheese. The movie spends alot of time developing it's characters as well, something you don't see in too many movies these days. Especially horror films. When the characters do certain things, you understand why they did them, due to their motives and personalities being fleshed out heavily for the viewer, allowing them to really get to know the characters and decide whether we like them and whether or not we want to root for them.

The action sequences in the movie are a bit short, and few and far between. The mutants, for all of their viciousness...don't really do much to keep Major Hunter and his troop from getting to the machine until they actually arrive underground where it resides. But on the flipside of that coin, the action scenes come at the right times and right moments....so they work despite their scarceness. The films climax isn't extremely intense, but it doesn't lose intensity from what's previously transpired in the picture either. It's pretty much on par with the rest of the movie excitement wise. "The Mutant Chronicles" is definitely one of those movies that many won't see in 2008 due to the lack of buzz around it, but they'll also regret not taking a chance or rool of the dice on it. Sometimes the best films in the room, aren't always the loudest ones.

Positives:Great performances by Aoki, Jane, and Perlman. Strong script and character development, an edgy overall look, feel, and tone to the film, and an intriguing storyline.

Negatives:Could've used another fight sequence or two.

Overall:Well done film, three stars.





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