Mutant Chronicles [Blu-ray] (Region 2) (Import)

You've probably read the other reviews, so I won't bore you by recapping the plot yet again. Now, I've watched this through a couple of times and taken a week or so to try to craft a balanced, impartial critique. But I can't, so I'm writing a two-part review. The first part is written for the General Public by my Detached Observer Side, the part that actually paid attention in the couple of journalism and mass communications courses I did at Kent State University. The second part is written by my Vicious Bloodthirsty Sourcebook-Beating "Mutant Chronicles" Fan Side, which has been around considerably longer. Why two different takes on the same movie? I'll tell you . . .REVIEW FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC: As a sci-fi / horror film, "Mutant Chronicles" is pretty dang cool. Its combination of World War I trench warfare, apocalyptic zombie killfest, and grand holy quest motifs make for a unique feel. In terms of looks, it switches between sepia-tone war-torn brutality, inspiringly-lit monastic retreats, and gritty steampunkish urban decay, with the odd bit of CGI / Comic Book Hyper-Clarity. Visually, it's a train-wreck of a mish-mash, but it just somehow WORKS. Apart from the CGI-enhanced sprays of blood, that is. One of the special effects team said the touched-up splatters would be "kind of subliminal." They weren't; they look like they've been blatantly doctored by a kid with a crimson magic marker drawing directly on the film. But the rest of the production looks pretty darn stylish, and most of the visuals are stunning and evocative. One short little scene in particular (involving hordes of Necromutants flowing out of The Pit under cover of fog and dust), lasts barely more than a couple seconds, but it's good 'n' creepy. The quality of the acting mostly ranges from good upwards, with only one or two exceptions. I think the best performances of the bunch in this flick are probably from Ron Perlman and Sean Pertwee. As for DVD Extras, you don't get much. There are a few mandatory "Coming Soon" Trailers, and some obligatory Audio / Subtitle Set-Up stuff. There's one big "Making Of" documentary which lasts as long as the movie itself; there're a few interesting bits in that, though it should've been cut down into separately-presented sections. The Cast & Crew Interviews are a bit misleading. When you try to select "Thomas Jane (Actor)," you actually get "Simon Hunter (Director)." All the other interviewees are who the menu says they are. That's it. No Easter Eggs, no deleted scenes, no look at the original source material from the games. All in all it's a bit on the thin side, but for the price, you're getting a decent, cool sci-fi / horror movie.REVIEW FOR DIE-HARD "MUTANT CHRONICLES" FANS: I think you may be sadly disappointed, especially since a "Mutant Chronicles" film project was announced back in the mid-late-1990s, and you've been waiting over a decade for it to get out of Development Hell. To give you a taste, the front of the DVD case says "Welcome to the 23rd Century . . ." while the back of the DVD case lists the date as 2707, and Chapter 1 of the film itself is titled "2027." Yeah, it's gonna be one of THOSE experiences. As I wrote in my Amazon review for the novelisation of this film (which has bigger plot-skips but oodles more detail), they've changed a LOT of the background on some well-known characters, general history, and the look of the Mutant Chronicles universe. The most jarring changes happened around beloved well-known character Valérie Duval, who, for no reason other than casting, is now of the Mishima Corporation. Duval (played by Devon Aoki), whose character is supposed to be a battle-hardened single mother with scores of confirmed kills under her belt, comes out sounding almost like a cheerleader trying to enthuse her high school at a pep rally half the time. If they'd've given Devon her own character with a different name and background, I could've lived with that, or wrote her more like the snarling, fanatical she-wolf that Duval is supposed to be, that could've worked, too. But as the Duval that made it into the movie, she just doesn't work. Now, as a movie in and of itself, this is actually quite good and unique. As "Mutant Chronicles," it comes off as a good try - you can tell they wanted to make it work - but it falls short on a number of points. You're better off tracking down the three previously-published novels or the "Golgotha" comic books if you want a good MC fix. My only hope is that the ending of this film leaves things open for a sequel. Now, set out in the colonies in the wider solar system, a few centuries or so from the events of this movie, with perhaps descendants of three of the characters in this film (who were named in honour of them), vastly expanded ranks of Dark Legion, and a closer adherence to the source material, I'd say a "Mutant Chronicles 2" could be very well received. I am available for consultation. Hint, hint, studios . . . .

Mutant Chronicles is a sci-fi/steampunk/war B movie. An Ancient machine that creates world destroying mutants lies buried beneath a seal which was set there hundreds of years ago,the legend of which is protected by a monastic order who hold the book that tells of the dark times when the machine was originally stopped. Fast forward to the year 2707 and corporate war is ravaging the earth. During an artilery barrage the forgotten seal is broken and the machine is working again sending out mutants to kill and bring back humans to make more mutants. The keepers of the seals knowledge set out with a group of harderned soldiers to once and for all destroy the machine.The films setting has a definate steampunk feel with many of the early battle scenes having a the feel of WWI trench warfare. The weapons and flying vehicles in the film are steam powered. Most of the special effects are CGI driven but considering this title is a low budget B movie they work really well.The Visual quality on Blu-Ray is very good. Occasionally you get a slight grainy feel but the whole setting for the movie is dark and steam filled so this is a by product of the setting and not a bad transfer. The Audio is HD DTS multichannel and is very good quality my small gripe would be that the sudden changes for whispered talk to artillery bombardment can have you grabbing for the remote to change adjust the sound level so i eventually used the autolevel feature on my blu ray player to help with this issue.Extras on the disc are sparce but thats not unusual for a B movie release like this. There is a 25 minute making of with interviews with all the main cast which include Ron Pearlman  Hellboy [Blu-ray] [2004 ],Devon Aoki(who played Miho in  Sin City - 2-Disc Edition [Blu-ray] [2005 ] Sean Pertwee who seems to make a fair few B movie films like the excellent Dog Soldiers [DVD] [2002 ]. There is also 7 minutes of behind the scenes camera workNice to find something in the B movie range with a budget price.All in all 1 hour and 45 minutes of good value B movie Fare.

This film is a very fair attempt at the genre.To detail, the film is a futuristic earth where the world is fighting for the remaining resouces (not at all like the middle east today!!) but the countries are no longer being controlled by governments but by wealthy corperations. One battlefield unleashes a terrible machine buried deep below the earth which sets loose creatures who make the most horrible human efforts look positively pleasant.A religious order who (godly order) who faced the monsters from this source of evil in the dark ages hear of the monsters being unleashed and propose that the fighting corperations launch an elite team to make a suicide run to destroy the machine( source of the monsters).It is a dirty dozen crossed with resident evil and a number of war horrors. The mutants are more brutal than anything seen in other Zombie films and show a higher( although cruel) intelligence.The Effects arn't of the highest caliber but as a person of the early Ray Harryhowzen era 'they arn't that bad' and contrary to popular view 'special effects do not a good film make' as shown by many recent films which had amazing special effects but the films were of a very poor standard .I am an avid fan of the Wargame and RPG of this setting and was terrified that it would be a pitiful attempt, instead I was pleasantly surprised by the mood, brutality and desparation that was set by the film. They only included the necromutants and undead legionaires in the film which is a shame as the Dark Legion includes much much more and they should have included the legions Symbol on the Zombies and the machine but hey ho.It really isn't a kids film (unless you consider Dawn Of The Dead a childs film (or Saving Private Ryan for that matter).Give it a chance and you may be pleasantly surprised.