Film review: City of Ember

Tagline

Discover the Secret.

plot

Some indefinite years into the future, the world has become uninhabitable. So a city is built deep underground, with a huge generator designed to last exactly two hundred years. Once that time is up, well... You have to see the movie to find out. In order to prevent the time from running out without anyone being prepared for it, each successive mayor of the city was given a locked box with numbers counting down each year. The box contained something else too – a map. But somewhere along the line, the mayor was usurped by a man who only wanted power, and knew nothing about the box, or the generator.

Flash forward to the year the box runs down to zero. The city has experienced a number of mysterious blackouts that keep growing more frequent. There are no insects or animals, but every once in a while a beetle or moth the size of a pony will appear in the city, and horrible, gigantic moles root through the deep places in the pipes and sewer. We meet our heroes as Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) is at the city school handing out 'assignments' — a sort of rite of passage for young people to become acquainted with the working world. Lina (Saoirse Ronan) is assigned to be a pipe works assistant; her friend Doon (Harry Treadaway) is given the task of messenger. They switch places after the ceremony, Lizzie because being a messenger gives her an excuse to run, which is her favorite pastime anyway; Doon because he wants to know what's going on with the generator, and working in the pipes will let him get close enough to do some snooping. Before long, Lina discovers the box with the map, and the two of them become allies in a race to find the escape from the city before it's too late. The journey unfolds in bits and pieces like a videogame puzzle – not something lame, but a really intricate and beautifully designed one, like Myst. Of course there's no doubt as to whether they're going to be successful in finding the way out. In quests like these, it's not the destination that's important, but the way our heroes get there.

Acting

Bill Murray is of course appropriately creepy and hilarious as the mayor, but this isn't a new role for him. He serves his purpose just fine, but no one's going to remember him for this one. Same goes for Tim Robbins at Doon's father, although I am a fan of his and it was an unexpected treat to see him in the picture. Martin Landau gives the one standout adult performance as the ancient, narcoleptic pipe worker Sul, but the film really belongs to the kids. Treadaway's previous role as Edmund in the Chronicles of Narnia films prepped him well for this – the mysterious, broody, good guy character determined to find out the truth even if it means danger. Ronan is a gem, endlessly optimistic without being grating, clever and resourceful in the way she handles the secrets she discovers, and utterly believable as the responsible party holding her tiny family of three together.

This movie wasn't on my Must See list. It looked interesting, but I wasn't sold on it. I'm glad I did get a chance to see it in a proper theater, and that I went into it with so few expectations. It's a good one to catch, whether you've read the book or not.

Verdict: All in all, this adaptation of the novel is quite well done. The story of a city underground that must be escaped from has been done before – think Logan's Run, or THX1138 if you're as deep into nerd movies as me – but telling it through the eyes of a child who hasn't seen it done before makes it fresh and moving all over again.

Laurel