A Era da Escuridão

It's hard not to notice the parallels between "The Mutant Chronicles" and "Aliens": a team of soldiers, plus a few outsiders with deeper knowledge of the subject, are sent on a suicide mission (not to outer space but) deep beneath the surface of the earth to destroy (not bloodthirsty alien monsters and their source but) bloodthirsty zombie mutants and their source. The film is not quite as good as "Aliens", but it's still a serviceable B-movie. Visually it succeeds in creating its own, richly detailed and impressively designed, world: that includes the mutants themselves, who have one of their arms extended to a huge claw that can cut human flesh to pieces. The action itself, however, is a bit too chaotically edited: sometimes things happen and you don't have enough time to see how they happened, or a battle takes place and you're not absolutely sure who is hitting whom. This seems to be a recent trend in action movies (the latest Bond film "Quantum Of Solace" really suffers from it), and I hope they reverse it soon. The cast is good, though the characters are definitely not as memorable as those of "Aliens". Ron Perlman's best moments come near the end, while Devon Aoki and Anna Walton are unconventionally attractive and fully combative female leads. (**1/2)

At the end of the Ice Age, The Machine came from the outer space with the purpose to change men into mutants. However, a hero defeated the device and a great seal was laid over The Machine. In 2707, the depleted world is ruled by four Corporations: Mishima, Bauhaus, Capitol and Imperial that are in constant war. During a battle between Capitol and Bauhaus, the great seal is broken and The Machine works again transforming soldiers and civilians in hordes of mutants. A small part of the population escapes to Mars, leaving millions of people behind. The man of faith and leader of an ancient brotherhood Brother Samuel (Ron Perlman) is a believer of God and the Chronicles, a bible about the mutants. With the city under siege of the mutants, he visits the Corporations' leader Constantine (John Malkovich) asking for an aircraft and twenty men for a suicide mission to destroy The Machine, planting a bomb and a detonator following the knowledge of the Chronicles. He recruits the tough Major 'Mitch' Hunter (Thomas Jane); the Bauhaus Lieutenant Maximillian von Steiner (Benno Fürmann); the keeper of the Chronicles Severian (Anna Walton) that is under a vow of silence; the gorgeous and lethal Corporal Valerie Duval (Devon Aoki); Corporal Juba Kim Wu (Tom Wu); Captain John McGuire (Steve Toussaint); and Corporal Jesus 'El Jesus' de Barrera (Luis Echegaray). Together they become the last hope of Earth against the evil mutants.

"The Mutant Chronicles" is a stylish adventure with a dark cinematography that recalls "Dark City" and "Metropolis" and interesting concepts of war in the trenches (like in World War I) and riveted flying machines (burning coal, like the ships in the beginning of the Twentieth Century). In the end, "The Mutant Chronicles" is neither a masterpiece nor a bad movie as indicated in many reviews; just an entertaining and stylish movie, with reasonable story and acting and great cinematography and especial effects. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Era da Escuridão – Mutant Chronicles" ("The Age of Darkness – Mutant Chronicles")

Fans of Sci-Fi have had to withstand much worse offerings than this movie. I was entertained and the movie kept my attention. I had, originally, just started it as "background noise", but had to rewind it because it began to draw my attention. I watched the making of and, considering the the budget they had to work with, the fact that they used models and matte instead of CGI, the special effects could have been a lot worse. I felt the acting was believable and I didn't see any obvious holes in the plot. I'd watch it again and would recommend it to a fan of Sci-Fi.

I've never understood the indignation of some of the posters on these boards. The movie wasn't over-hyped and is, honestly, quite enjoyable.

I think the cast,crew, and special effects teams all deserve a thumbs up.

Just my humble opinion.

Yep its derivative, full of clichés, underdeveloped characters, but its still great fun and full of B movie goodness. Visually stunning and imaginative production design and great special effects combine to create what will no doubt become a minor cult classic over time.

I thought I was watching a video game after 5 Min's, partly due to the filming process (100% digital) and the colours (or lack there of). The blood is almost scarlet which give it an almost erotic feel.

Tension is used effectively and the film moves quickly enough, Thomas Jane is still good to watch (cant forget his performance in The Mist). Also Sean Pertwee puts in a solid performance as well. There is plenty of action, some great fight scenes, and some creepy moments - but that's your lot! Keep your expectations low and you'll enjoy it for what its! The whole retro mix of world war I and future technology is truly worth watching alone, and cant wait to see this in HD.

I think this was really something special. It was not what the average person would call good, but it also wasn't bad at all.

I'm somebody that really watches A LOT of movies. About 4-8 in a week. So I am really happy to see a movie that is not like the others. And this one is one of them.

It's like a Comic adaption, it reminded me a little of Sin City and 300. Sci-Fi and Fantasy at the same time. It begins with a war and ends with a 80's team mission horror action-adventure.

I think it's animation is also unique, you recognize that a lot is computer-animated but you don't really care cause it's done really good for a B-Movie. The blood effects give this a feeling of a film-noir like Sin City and it's epic tale reminded me in someway of 300 and Steamboy...

But I still can't tell if it's good or bad, but I can say this movie is completely unique, it had it's own atmosphere and it really entertained me, although it wasn't made in the best way...