Review of City of Ember (2008) by Jani H — 08 Aug 2009

"On the day the world ended, the fate of mankind was carried in a small metal box.".

The fantasy genre is one of my favourite genres. In that genre, the viewer gets a chance to leave the world of today and experience something else. Something different. 'City of Ember' exceeded all of my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed it, flaws and all.

The city of Ember was built as a refuge place for humanity and it is powered by a massive generator. But the problem is that it will only sustain for 200 years. Now Ember is falling into darkness as the generator is failing. A metal box is found in the darkest corner of a house whose residents are the descendants of past city mayors. Lina, a young girl and her grandmother are sure that the content of the box is important and may bring a solution to the inevitable end of the city... and humanity?

'City of Ember' has an original script that was truly entertaining. It starts of interesting and doesn't have any pacing problems of any sort. But when the movie ends, I got this feeling of "That's it? What now?". Of course this is a good thing in a way, leaving the viewer to imagine the future of the characters and the described world.

The cast does an amazing job. Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway are two young actors that may have a bright future ahead of 'em. Bill Murray continues his stranger-than-we've-used-to roles and manages to pull it of, once again. Maybe he should've left comedy a bit earlier than what he did? And see what Martin Landau managed to do? A very enjoyable performance and proof of him being very much "in the game".

The visual image of the film is very good. I enjoyed the feeling that they managed to get in to the movie. Haven't really seen anything like this before. Does remind me a bit of different movies but still it looks very original.

'City of Ember' is a film that didn't succeed at the box office. But I can say that far more worse films are out there. This film may not be for everyone though. Some may say that it's boring or that it doesn't have enough content to be a good feature film. I say that it is a good fantasy film for the elderly teens and the mature audience. For something different, 'City of Ember' may be a good choice for you.