Mutant Chronicles (2008)

Mutant Chronicles (2008)

Directed by: Simon Hunter

Starring: Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki

I was actually pretty surprised at this movie. I’ve never played (or even heard of) the pen and paper RPG this movie is apparently loosely based on, but for being a movie version of a game like that, it’s a sure sight better than that godawful Dungeons & Dragons movie.

In the distant future, corporations are at war with each other, but the fighting wakes up an ancient machine buried deep in an old city that’s turning people into horrible mutant monsters. As the people of the world flee to Mars, a small group of soldiers are enlisted by a priest to fulfill a prophecy and destroy the machine behind enemy lines.

This is obviously an independent film, but for being a movie with an obviously low budget, the special effects are really well done. Which is good, because it’s a sci-fi/action movie about soldiers shooting space zombies, and without special effects, there isn’t a whole lot to it. Ron Perlman is pretty good as the priest, and Thomas Jane plays the anti-hero action star archetype well, but still, it’s a movie about shooting and/or slicing up mutants with swords. Lots of swords. So many, it’s almost Lord of the Rings-esque, actually.

Fans of modern zombie movies and Dirty Dozen style “behind enemy lines” type war movies will really dig Mutant Chronicles. Just don’t try to predict what’s going to happen next, because it’s waaayyy too obvious.