Director: Gil Kenan
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Toby Jones, Bill Murray, David Ryall, Ian McElhinney
Release Date: January 20, 2009
Russo Rating = 7/10
Destined to become a cult favorite…a uniquely dilapidated science fiction environment
City of Ember is a dark film. The social and political commentary behind the Walden novel and Gil Kenan’s cinematic adaptation is astounding. A city, built beneath the Earth to shelter the last of the human race after the apocalypse, has kept its inhabitants locked away far longer then scientists had originally intended, until the memory of the world above ground had faded away into the darkness, is big ground for even the most seasoned of science fiction epics. The fact that Gil Kenan (Monster House) manages to have his children’s film stand on even ground with materiel like Logan’s Run, Soylent Green and The Giver is an outstanding achievement.
Destined to become a cult favorite, City of Ember pits two youths on an adventure to find what they believe is an exit to their world, a giant underground city enveloped by darkness. Political corruption seems to be covering up food shortages, and worse, a dying generator that threatens to turn off the city’s source of light. With only a tattered message from the city’s ancient founders, Doon and Lina explore the outskirts of their world for a beacon of hope.
With massive production design, Gil Kenan’s imagination has been set loose, creating a uniquely dilapidated science fiction environment. With a cast that includes Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Toby Jones, the acting is consistently good too. While sci-fi and fantasy gurus will have seen the climax before, City of Ember‘s finale is perhaps its only real flaw. It is as beautifully executed, as it is predictable.
Now on DVD and BluRay, the film’s massive environments and visual effects are gorgeously captured on both formats. However, Special features on the disc are not so pretty.
Fox went out of their way to put absolutely no bonus items on this disc. No obligatory commentary. Not even a lame gag reel. Disappointing, especially since Kenan’s last film, Monster House, received such an excellent DVD treatment. While the movie deserves to be seen, the disc is incredibly disappointing. In other words City of Ember is a must-see rental.
The ending was a disappointment on many levels, and the action preceding the ending left a lot of questions, serious questions, that go unanswered in the movie.
A number of plot holes begin to make their way into the movie about three quarters of the way through, and they just keep growing as it seemed the movie just wanted to rush to the end irrespective of the path it followed. Perhaps fine for children, but a tad on the weak side to satisfy all but the least demanding adults.
I think “a cult favorite” is a little strong for this movie, and it’s a shame because it had the potential for much more. I suspect, but don’t know, the book to contain a tighter progression of the story. I also suspect the movie could have made use of a few more minutes to tie off some loose ends.