City of Ember (2008)

As with most movies based on dystopia world novels, this movie presents a unique world setting that gives the main characters their unique background and conflict that they strive to resolve. The art direction and production designing are done beautifully to complement what's being told by this movie. Also the movie put enough time to elaborate on the story's uniqueness; about the hierarchy, the division of the population, the certain resources the world needs and the critical conflict that looms to be resolved. Yet until the movie's end there seem to be one too many questions left unanswered, like the reason why the animals grew so big in the world, other ways to get out of the city (since the gopher can find it's way in whereas it would need fresh air to breathe too). The acting overall is not really a great job, even with big names such as Bill Murray and Tim Robbins in the cast list. Saoirse Ronan was still at the developing stages of her acting, while Harry Treadaway didn't have any notable acting career advancement after his not so good performance here. Bill Murray and Tim Robbins are very much underutilized here while Toby Jones here also didn't get much trust to play any greater part.

This movie starts out okay, but later on not so much. While the two main characters are trying to find their way out of the city it obviously can't be too easy for them. I get that this is the whole point of the movie. However, this is the type of movie where the characters make such stupid decisions you find yourself yelling at them for most of the last half. Some people may find this suspenseful, but I ended up wishing they would just die so it will all be over. In the end I fast forwarded when I couldn't take it any more, but found myself too invested to just turn it off. Simple and predictable, but sadly I've seen much worse.

CITY OF EMBER spends a whole lot of time creating a post-apocalyptic future, where survivors live in a huge cavern filled with steam-punk style technology. Sadly, that's the limit of the imagination, because the film's narrative is virtually non-existent. You can't make a movie with a good setting alone, and the flaws are all too apparent once you begin watching.Attempts to make Bill Murray's comedy mayor into some kind of villain are undone from the outset by Murray's comic acting, while further attempts to bring gravitas via the casting of experienced actors like Tim Robbins and Toby Jones are similarly misplaced. The central plot, about the two kids searching for a way out, is dull beyond belief, and sleep-inducing. There's absolutely nothing new here.My only comments are that Saoirse Ronan is a very poor and overrated actress, limited to a single expression for a great deal of the time, and that the film's sole saving grace is the presence of old-timer Martin Landau, who is by far the best thing in it.

I really enjoyed this film – it had a fairly interesting and original idea that of a disaster befalling mankind and the only escape was to construct a sort of generational enclosed underground city (similar to the idea of a generational spaceship travelling from a polluted earth to find a new earth) but then the purpose is forgotten over time. In this case the power is running out and there's a corrupt Mayor (played by Bill Murray) with his evil sidekick played by the splendid Toby Jones. Over time the instructions for exiting the city are lost and forgotten. Martin Landau also makes a cameo appearance. The production design of the retro underground city and its associated (very analog) technology is believable and excellent. There is a strong emphasis on engineering and mechanics rather than computers and software which when you want something to last 200 years makes sense with a small enclosed population which needs to self- sustain itself with limited resources and which is in a back-to basics de-evolving state. Very good – but as with 'When Worlds Collide' (1951), 'Logan's Run' (1976) and 'THX 1138' (1971) I would have liked to have seen more of the 'new world' and the way in which our protagonists adapt (or fail to adapt) to it. There's a nice (predictable) sunrise scene at the end of the film which I was fully expecting.