City of Ember

City of Ember



When you hang a film on three hooks, you want to make sure those hooks are strong and always present. If the hooks are small and mostly absent, the film will almost certainly fall down. With me so far?

City of Ember is a story set in a post apocalyptic earth, where the human race is now all but extinct. In a desperate bid to save their species, a group of scientists devise an underground city where the last humans will survive for 200 years before leaving to recolonise the earth.

A time-locked box containing the details of how to leave the city is passed down from mayor to mayor through the generations. Until one Mayor dies suddenly or is killed (it's not clear) before passing it on to the next in line. The box is hidden away and forgotten, where it automatically opens, unseen.

The inhabitants of Ember live under constant fear that their power generator will collapse, blinking out their artificial lights. Every time it stalls there is widespread panic. Two youngsters, Lina and Doon, realising that their days in Ember are numbered try to find a way to repair the generator, but, instead, accidentally stumble on the box. Together they try to unravel the contents and find a way out.

But not everyone is so keen to leave Ember, the scurrilous Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) has taken advantage of his city's fear, distracting them from his plan to steal all the food.

With the help of Doon's father (Tim Robbins) the heroic pair outwit the mayor's guards and start their journey to the surface.

On paper the story sounds almost enjoyable, but the film is riddled with unanswered questions. Like, for instance, why is the human race on the brink of extinction? Why are there giant moths? What the hell is the black and pink monster?

At the outset there were three hooks to get an audience through the door to watch this; Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and the promise of much problem solving to escape the doomed city. Unfortunately, all three coming in meagre portions. Bill Murray goes through the motions as the evil Mayor. Tim Robbins is criminally underused. And all the problem solving takes place in the last ten minutes of the film.

When the kids reach the surface, you'll be left wondering what all the fuss was about and realise you could have fast forwarded the movie for an hour without losing any of the story.


Verdict 3/10
The film fell down.