City of Ember – Review

Reviews, Theatrical Reviews

Pretty film that doesn’t have much to it


Image Courtesy of IMPawards.com

Director: Gil Kenan
Notable Cast:
Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway

City of Ember is one of 2008’s best looking and best photographed films by far. In terms of its visuals, it’s hard to imagine anything topping it. Its vision of a group of people underground for many centuries in a post-apocalyptic world that is frightening in certain aspects but jaw-dropped in many others. In fact the work put into making this world seems much stronger than crafting the film itself, which seems to be a generic adventure film without most of the adventure.

And that’s ultimately what hamper City of Ember, its lack of action. Most of the film is focused on the buildup to the film’s final action sequence, a very good at that, but the problem is that for a film that is supposed to be closer to the equivalent of National Treasure in terms of buildup and pace it falls flat because the film’s opening act takes up most of the film.

City of Ember has an intriguing premise. Many years ago, humanity was in the throws of some major catastrophe and a group of people were put underground for 200 years to outlast it. With the keys to leaving opening in 200 years in the hands of the mayor, everything seems ok until the box is misplaced. With no one aware of the box’s existence, and laws prohibiting people from leaving, the world of the people in the City of Ember is a small collective enclave. When the generator providing them power starts to break down after several centuries of use more than anticipated, two teenagers (Harry Treadaway and Saorise Ronan) trying to figure a way out discover the box and go on a wild journey to leave the City of Ember for the outside world.

This is supposed to be an adventure film, about two people overcoming odds and avoiding a monster or two along the way, but the film takes excessively too long to get to that point. The film’s middle act is the longest part of the film after a short introduction and a quick finale. Once we get to the meat of the film, the big escape sequence, the film is about to end. Gil Kenan takes too long in his setup and certainly is not long enough in his action sequences (which is the film’s big selling point).

But it’s easy to see why he delays the action. The set itself is entirely man made, no real evidence of computer graphics, and was fully built in an abandoned warehouse. It’s incredible in its scope, with so much to look at and detail put into it, that leaving it seems almost a cinematic crime. There’s lots of great cinematography to be had as the film uses every manner of shot to show off this wonder of set construction.

The film’s writing has something to do with this. There isn’t much dialogue that’s interesting, and there are moments where the film gets a bit laughable (in a bad way). This isn’t an interesting film in terms of characters and plot, as the film doesn’t give us much in terms of character and the story is spread out much more. This seems to be a character driven drama for huge chunks when it gives off the adventure vibe, as Kenan sets the film up like a teenage National Treasure but ultimately doesn’t pay it off in the way you’d expect. The film seems to be in need of less talk and a bit more action.

Ultimately, no matter how great the film looks, and no matter how great it is shot, City of Ember isn’t a very satisfying experience. Visually it is impressive to say the least but once you get past the visuals, there’s nothing that keeps your attention.

FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):