The Mutant Chronicles Movie

Mutant Chronicles (2008)

What an odd, little movie. A dozen years back we played the heck out of Warzone, it was a great game actually with a fast and fun rules system and a line of figures that ranged from awesome to, err, very not so awesome. The miniatures game was based off the Mutant Chronicles roleplaying game, and somewhere in there they had a collectible card game too. This is all just context, suffice it to say it's got some background.

Now there's a movie, and if you see the cast list you'll see they have some recognizable names in there. About John Malkovich's role, it is very minor, a bit cameo at best. Both Thomas Jayne and Ron Perlman are the names with staying power. The film is low budget, or is it? It certainly seems low budget at times, but they did so on a grandiose scale, if that makes sense. The corporations of the Warzone universe are kept alive and well, and they do a great job of involving several of these under the leadership of the Brotherhood. This move is textbook Doomtrooper, which was nice to see. In fact, from the opening war sequence, ala WWI trench warfare, to the machinery and buildings, the movie very much captured the look and feel of the Mutant Chronicles genre and setting.


Ron Perlman's Brother Samuel character

There was an overall sepia tone to the movie, yet the bloodletting, of which there was plenty, was in a stark, contrasting red. You don't have to know a thing about the Mutant Chronicles world to enjoy the movie, and there's some hand leading narration to help you along. The plot is very straight forward and deals with the Dark Legion and an ancient machine that creates Necromutants. I'm sure budget was an issue, but unfortunately you only get to see one type of bad guy, and none of the cool Nepharites or Behemoths.

It's worth watching if you've ever invested any time in the Mutant Chronicles world. It's worth watching just to appreciate as a low budget, sci-fi action, just know that going into to it. The acting is not the best, the dialog at times is cringe-worthy, the special effects are certainly not what you're used to, but hey, it's Mutant Chronicles, give it a shot.