Director: Simon Hunter
Writer: Philip Eisner
Producers: Pras, Edward R. Pressman, Peter La Terriere, Tim Dennison, Stephen Belafonte
Starring: Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki, Sean Pertwee, Benno Fürmann, John Malkovich, Anna Walton
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 111 min
Country of Origin:
Toronto After Dark Film Festival
If a couple of technical glitches were cleaned up and if marketed properly (which it isn’t), I’m sure this is one that the main stream masses could get behind. I mean you’ve got war, explosions, blockbuster effect shots, mutants, martial arts, space ships and John Malkovich. Really, what’s not to love? Not much as it turns out.
Hundreds of years into the future, the earth is controlled by four major corporations; each doing battle with one another for whatever resources are left on the planet. During one such skirmish, an errant shell crashes through a large, mechanical seal, inadvertently opening a gateway to another world from which an army of mutants are unleashed to enslave and destroy mankind. Now the four warring factions have no choice but to join forces to defeat this new, seemingly unstoppable, foe. But as things become more and more disheartening and the outlook becomes more and more bleak, one chance does appear to have the potential saving grace: a small band of soldiers, each with their own set of expertise, must venture into the heart of the machine and destroy it.
Sure it sounds corny and cliche… and it is. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun… and it is. The first noticeable element to the film which pretty much had me at hello, was the uncharacteristic vision of what the future will look like. 700 years from now you’d think we’d be using laser blasters and photon torpedoes. Not to mention those ridiculous looking spandex outfits that everyone from the future wears (yeah, I’m looking at you Kirk). But no, the opening battle sequence might as well have taken place in Eastern Europe in 1917. All of the guns are practical, caliber type weapons and even the uniforms are very reminiscent of those worn by allied soldiers in the first world war.
To be sure, later on there are some space ships and larger weapons that wouldn’t be used nowadays, but even some of the technology used throughout the film appears fairly archaic; even by our standards. Everything is driven mechanically; not a computer in sight. “Steam punk” is a term that’s been coined to describe this sort of non-futuristic, sci-fi fantasy. And I gotta say, it works pretty well and provides great atmosphere and mood for what might otherwise be another ho-hum, ‘humans fight mutants’ story.
Of course the story wouldn’t work as effectively as it does without a great cast of characters for the adventure. Here’s another spot in which the film excels surprisingly well. With John Malkovich it should be an automatic sell, but unfortunately he doesn’t have a whole lot of screen time. So it is up to the rest of the cast to sell the action. Ron Perlman of course is no stranger to fantasy action and he takes on the role with just as much vigor as always from the likes of he. As a religious monk of some sort, it’s a little bit different role for him, which is a pleasant treat of a surprise.
Besides the two big names, there’s Thomas Jane (Boogie Nights, The Punisher, The Mist) taking on the lead role and he’s bad ass as ever. An unstoppable, almost Schwarzenegger-esque, fighter with sheer will, determination and of course apropos one liners, “I don’t get paid to have faith. I get paid to fuck shit up!” Although a bit on the cliche/corny side, Jane provides a rebellious hero everyone can stand up and root for unconditionally.
With all sorts of other great protagonists, a methodical leader, a stubborn general, the martial arts expert, the out of control fly-boy and the mysterious protector of the sacred pages. Along with Jane and Perlman, it’s a really fun cast that fight mutants with the best of them. Even in abandoned, 80-story elevator shafts.
If I had any complaints, they would be small but noticeable. First of all, the effects shots. Some of the effects here are just too laughable. Either budgetary constraints forced the film makers into ending their post-production a bit early, or the use of 20th century techniques were employed. While the ships look pretty good and some of the more “epic” shots work well, the smaller bits of effects that shouldn’t even be noticed are horribly obvious. Small gun fire looks like it was developed with a cheap version of Adobe After Effects and some of the blood spray looks as though it was painted on to the celluloid at the last minute with a perma-marker. I’m obviously exaggerating a little bit, but there could definitely be some polishing of the SFX work here.
Next would be the dialogue. Sitting at home in front of the DVD one might feel the urge to turn it off quite quickly, particularly during some what are supposed to be more emotional and expositional sequences. Trying to turn the film into a religious conundrum isn’t particularly interesting and almost seems like an afterthought. But in the festival atmosphere, it’s easy to shrug these minor annoyances off and even laugh at them to enhance the experience. So a problem with the movie actually becomes a positive in some small way.
Basically it’s a very simple, slightly corny and fairly unoriginal film. Still, with some fun dialogue (as corny as it is), great characters and an even better technology and social style, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. There are some nice martial arts with swords scenes and the mutants look great and creepy – sort of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers with explosions in space feel. While at the same time appearing to use all of the technology of decades past. I’m not going to sit here and sing praises all day long, but for lovers of the genre, it can be quite entertaining.
Click “play” to see the trailer:
Links:
IMDb profile
Official Site
Flixster Profile for Mutant Chronicles
Oh hell no Andrew. Did you just give this heaping pile of celluloid shit THREE AND A HALF STARS?
Ay ay ay. If something can emulate the feeling you get when hearing nails on a black board, but for the eyes AND ears, it’s this awful trite.
Andrew is silly that way. I wouldn’t go near this one with a 10 foot pole.
It was fun. The visual style was kick ass. Love the 1920-30′s design of everything… even in the apartment it was someplace my grandmother would’ve lived in. But still is 700 years into the future. Different = good.
14% at RT. Bring it.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie this bad actually. Looks terrible, horribly acted, atrocious writing and looks like a high end Star Wars fan film.
Malkovich looked drunk, bored and embarrassed to be there and Ron Pearlman really should try to stay away from using an Irish accent.
It’s no wonder this film has essentially disappeared.
“It was fun. The visual style was kick ass. Love the 1920-30’s design of everything…”
I believe the phrase you are looking for is Steam-Punk, give Mamoru Oshii’s THE SKY CRAWLERS a try for that, it’s the real deal.
If you want the best Steam-Punk ever captured on celluloid, I recommend Ingmar Bergman’s The Magic Flute.
Haven’t seen the sky crawlers, but alot of the asian stuff is closer to technoterror and biomechanical nightmares, which are awesome, but not necessarily the kind of vibe you usually associate with steampunk.
I used the term “steam punk” in the review, but I hate that term for some reason.
And other than budget, this movie isn’t much different than Hellboy II. No story, mediocre acting, go below the earth with a bunch of specialists to fight demons/zombies. But funny, this one wasn’t trying to be high art and thus worked a lot better.
Well, I didn’t think Hellboy 2 tried to be any sort of high art, and the only thing that makes it anyway defendable that something like Hellboy 2 gets made, is BECAUSE they can have a big budget and make big monsters that shoot laserstuff and grow plants out of their assholes, to entertain the senses. If something like Hellboy 2 has bad effects work, it’s a fucking dreadful experience.
“And other than budget, this movie isn’t much different than Hellboy II.”
Which is why I hated Hellboy 2 but I can’t really compare the two.
It would be better if Mutant Chronicles didn’t take itself so god damn seriously. It’s trying it’s damnedest to be serious and cool but fails at every count.
Huh? I thought Hellboy 2 had lots of interesting things to say about fantasy/magic/imagination. When mankind tramps on his own imagination, part of him dies. I think there is a special strange kind of melancholy in HB2 which appeals to me a lot more than ‘plants out the asshole’ as Henrik so elegently puts it. And HB2 without the budget probably still would have been a swell flick.
So basically I disagree with everything said in comments 8-10.
Even IF it had something to say, which I don’t agree it actually does, nor attempts to do, the characters are completely shackled into dealing with plants out the assholes, and whatever thematic content has to be put on hold every 7-10 minutes for a swordfight, or a monster sequence etc. It doesn’t exist to tell a story or deal with characters, it exists to showcase giant monsters and fighting. Which it does very well, it’s just a shame that it DOES contain characters, and has them dealing with ridiculous melodramatic bullshit which no thinking person could care about.
I am not against fantasy. A creative imagination is fun to see fulfilled, I am a big fan of George Lucas’ imagination. But his characters and stories are shit as well, just as is the case with Hellboy. What annoys me is that these people don’t realize it themselves, and try and create a plot to contain all their fantasies, rather than just give us the fantasies untainted.
I actually agree with that last sentence. I like the unvarnished fantasies. Plot can be overrated. Just look at David Lynch or Guy Maddin’s work.
But didn’t you just say that you felt that Hellboy 2 was good because of its plot and would have been good even if the effects didn’t work?
And as for David Lynch not having a plot? Puh-lease. I just watched Mulholland Drive and that film is drenched in cliché’d plot elements and void of much human interaction. Some of the scenes in the film are basically just there to comment on the nature of plots.
On Hellboy2 – No, I didn’t say that Henrik. Read the comment again please.
On Mullholand Drive – yes, but the cliched plot elements do not advanced the plot per se, they are just piled on in there, and ultimately a red herring.
Doesn’t change the fact that they are there and ultimately seem to be the point of the film. Lots of ‘look-how-clever-I-can-be-and-how-much-I-understand-clichés’ which gets people all hot and bothered, forgetting that if you’re not, as an audience, interested in these cliché’s, ie. care what happens with the money, the movie is a fucking boring piece of shit, with nice imagery.
“I thought Hellboy 2 had lots of interesting things to say about fantasy/magic/imagination.”
“And HB2 without the budget probably still would have been a swell flick.”
Sorry for misinterpreting, but this reads as somebody praising the plot and story of the film, and neglecting the all-important visual effects that is the foundation of existence for Hellboy 2 (and, just to make it clear, is done very well. I was excited to see the comic book shit in Hellboy 2, it was great. I liked that part of the movie very much, it was the best I’ve seen since the Star Wars movies).
I agree with these points except about MC taking itself seriously. I thought it was completely just having fun with itself. I thought it was HB trying to be so serious. Maybe neither were.
Either way, if you like reading into HB for it’s take on fantasy and imagination (which I don’t remember at all – all I remember is a 20 minute sequence fighting CGI golden robots), then maybe you might like some of the lighter takes on faith and religion that MC tries to convey (though admittedly I ignored that garbage and just tried to have fun with Thomas Jane and mutants, which were NOT cgi by the way).
Maybe it’s a weird personal thing, but MC worked for me far better than Hellboy and with only half the budget (or less). In fact, other than the blood effects and the small arms fire, I thought the effects weren’t all that bad.
Yes, I like the parentheses.
Mutant Chronicles was loads better than Hellboy 2, not that I think they are overly comparable.
I really enjoyed Mutant Chronicles, it was a lot of fun. Seeing it with a big audience made it even better, even though it was clear that some people thought it was not the best. The best analogy I have is that it’s Starship Troopers without the genre crap and for that I say, bring it on.
Also, for those who saw it – did you see it theatrically? I’ve heard the other source going around are pretty crappy quality.
Hey Shannon, True that. Being that it was a true film print instead of digibeta really helped its aesthetic to be sure.
The Mutant Chronicles is an almost unbearably cool movie visually. If hunter failed at anything it was that he was trying to do too much with what he was given. This thing just needs another million dollar pass and it’ll be awesome.
Honestly. One of the best low budget scifi action flicks I’ve seen in a long time. Made Babylon AD that much more boring in comparison.
AO out!
Define ‘Starship Troopers without the genre crap’ I’m not clear on that.
Yes I was wondering about that myself.
Fucking Starship Troopers rules! I love it when european directors make fun of fachist america and it’s military-fetich! See also: Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day & The Patriot.
Well, obviously Verhoeven gets the joke. I’m not so sure about Emmerich though. His films seem earnest in all the wrong ways. But I guess if you put yourself in the right frame of mind (The Robocop/SST frame of mind) while watching THE PATRIOT and INDEPENDENCE DAY, they both are probably a laff-riots.
And was your spelling of fascist and fetish intentionally wrong? Or are you worried about the ‘carnivore’ type Big Brother things. I doubt you are, but for whatever reason that sprung to mind.
It was unintentional.
Seriously though, could you ever take it seriously when the president of america leads the fighterpilots to battle the space-aliens and when the drunkard unlocks the secret to defeat them? I think it’s obvious that he gets the joke.
The Patriot does have a more serious tone, and Mel Gibson makes it work, but again, the ending with him charging with the american flag is obviously over-the-top on purpose.
Somebody who doesn’t get the joke makes scenes like in Transformers when the military guy goes “We need the AIR FORCE. We can’t take them without the AIR FORCE” (even the hardcore military jokes of something like Crimson Tide is lost, where the submarine guy pisses on the air force) or in Iron Man where there is a scene out of nowhere with the military guy doing a sales-speech for why a HUMAN PILOT is so much more valuable than any computer etc. Militaristic posturing and jerking off without having fun with it.
Oh my where would I begin with the gender crap. I think this sums it up:
Dizzy: Rico, I’m dying.
Johnny Rico: No Diz, you’ll be fine.
Dizzy: But it’s OK, because I got to have you.
Seriously? Lame.
It did have a lot of balanced stuff with men & women in terms of roles & responsibility, but the Rico/Carmen/Dizzy triangle was pathetic.
Shannon. I think you missed the brilliant SATIRE of the whole thing. Not genre, crap, more like taking the piss out of the genre, and out of the Why We Fight… heroic propaganda that Hollywood participated in during the Great Wars, particularly the second one.
Now Mutant Chronicles (looks) to be missing any of that cheeky wit, taking itself seriously to the point where everything is sadly laughable.
In light of your read on SST, How’s that for irony?
Are we talking GENRE or GENDER?
Please clarify.
And thanks to those (that actually saw the movie) that back me up with how much fun Mutant Chronicles is. Taking it seriously and looking for meaning, of course it’ll be shit. At a genre festival with next to Tokyo Gore Police it works perfectly and was really fun – plus it looked better than almost anything else I saw during the festival.
Attacking a war movie for being misogynistic? What a tame argument. I agree that the best war movies don’t have women in them, but Starship Troopers is no worse in treating women as loving idiots than any other hollywood war movie – the only difference being that in Starship Troopers Dizze doesn’t actually want the guy, she just want to fuck him because he’s a hotshot badass. Which isn’t misogynistic, it’s satirical.
A lot of people don’t like Star Ship Troopers simply because the can’t see beyond the intentional soap opera characters and the mindless violence. In other words they don’t get it. I fucking love SST, one of Verhoven’s best work. Robocop however does it better though in terms of satire when it mixes the Reganomics with the future.
Not so sure on that. I love the fascist internet in Starship Troopers. So many clever bits.
As a bonus, the CGI work in SST has not aged a day, I say it remains the pinnacle of CGI integration, nobody has done it better than this film (although War of the World and Bay’s Transformers remake comes very close). Hard to believe that this film is now 11 years old!
Also, a great DVD commentary from Verhoeven and Neumeier on the recent releases of the film. Anyone sit thru the Direct to Video Starship Troopers 3?
I agree that Robocop is the best. The dinosaur commercial for the car, and the scarily exact satire concerning police makes it awesome. And the existentialist angle – while played up by morons trying to justify their love for a sci-fi action movie – works. AND, it’s an original piece. One of the few modern pop culture icons that started on the big screen.
The CGI in Starship Troopers looks good, but you may be surprised how much of it isn’t CGI. They just did a good job of making the models look like the CGI.
Verhoeven/Neumeier is great, as is Verhoeven/Neumeier/Davison on Robocop and Verhoeven/Schwarzenegger on Total Recall. All great films and great commentary tracks.
Agreed that the CGI in SST is superb even to this day. The larger space ships were models but of course the bugs were CGI which were so perfectly integrated in to the sun baked dessert, which nobody had done well before that, opting to hide their CG characters in the shadows.
It’s funny that two of earliest movies to use CGI to any extend still hold up perfectly today, T2 and SST, although in T2 the movement of the T1000 hasn’t aged that well, hand animated and stiff. But I guess it all depends on how you use it.
Jurrasic Park still holds up as well. Except for the one shot that has water in it, the water doesn’t look real, but the rest looks impressive.
I always thought it was weird how Paul Verhoeven films seemed to have awesome effects. I can see nothing in the man that would suggest he had better abilities to make other peoples effects be better, but he does. All of his american films have great-to-groundbreaking effects. For some reason.
Most of the great Robocop effects have to do with the film editting. In particular Murphy’s christ-like execution sequence, as well as the crazy ‘toxic-waste’ kill towards the end.
Also, agreed on the Jurassic Park effects. Probably holds up so well because they are pretty sparing with the CGI in that film, and use models/practical in many of the scenes. It’s a nice and satisfying mix.
I’m not sure any of you know what steampunk actually means.
Boo to all of you.
?
“In particular Murphy’s christ-like execution sequence, as well as the crazy ‘toxic-waste’ kill towards the end.”
Those aren’t the impressive parts though. The impressive part is when they use the drill to pull of the Robocop armor, and it actually looks like his face is pulled over a robotic brain.
“Anyone sit thru the Direct to Video Starship Troopers 3?”
I watched maybe 25 minutes and had to turn it off. It’s unbelievably awful.
Jonathan B: Awesome.
Where is the AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD movie?
Oh my,…. gender crap, not genre. All I missed was a d.
I’m not really into satire, although I will say Starship Troopers always proves for some interesting convo but I won’t watch Verhoven films anymore – no interest in them.
re: Henrik
A comment that includes “no worse in treating women as” means I won’t even bother to read the rest of the sentence.
Way to be closeminded.
Shannon, watch Black Book first before you dismiss him entirely.
Ditto to what Gamble just said.
I’m very open minded but after Starship Troopers and Hollow Man, I lost interest – and that is ok. I don’t tell other people to see films that I don’t think they’d like. There is only so much time, it’s better spent on things you enjoy.
Actually I was referring to you refusing to read comments.
And what you want isn’t always what you need Shannon.
Black Book is unlike any of the other Verhoeven films I’ve seen. A holocaust movie that rings true – not trying to be satirical.