City of Ember (2008)
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Two teenagers in an underground city must decipher a long-forgotten set of instructions to find an exit before their world's generator fails forever.
The story
Set after a global catastrophe, a large group of survivors lives in an underground city called Ember. When the city's generator begins to fail and resources become scarce, two teenagers—Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet—secretly exchange their assigned adult occupations. Lina discovers a long-forgotten metal box containing a set of instructions and directions for an exit left by the city's original builders. Together, they begin to investigate the clues to find a way out of the failing subterranean civilization.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In an underground city called Ember, a metal box intended for future generations is opened after 200 years but goes unnoticed. Decades later, as the generator fails and supplies dwindle, students Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet exchange their assigned jobs. Lina finds the box and Doon helps her decipher instructions for an exit in the Pipeworks. They discover Mayor Cole is hoarding food in a secret vault. After Lina escapes the Mayor's capture during a blackout, she and Doon, accompanied by Lina's baby sister Poppy, flee the city via a subterranean river with the help of a technician named Sul. They evade a giant star-nosed mole and eventually reach the Earth's surface, witnessing a sunrise. They locate Ember through a hole in the ground and leave a letter with instructions on how to escape for the residents below.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 96
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Gil Kenan
- Writers
- Caroline Thompson · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Saoirse Ronan · Lina Mayfleet; Mary Kay Place · Poppy; Bill Murray · Mayor Cole; Martin Landau; Toby Jones · Sul; Tim Robbins · Loris Harrow
- Genres
- science fiction; fantasy; adventure; dystopian; post-apocalyptic
- Themes
- hope; human spirit; survival; resourcefulness
- Tone and mood
- optimistic; bleak; dark; whiz-bang
- Premise and plot tags
- dystopia; mystery; adventure; fantasy
- Source material / true-story basis
- The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (2003)
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $17.9 million against a budget of $55 million.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 53% · review count: 129; Metacritic · score: 58 · scale: 100 · review count: 27; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F; TV Guide · score: 3.5 · scale: 4
- Awards and nominations
- Irish Film and Television Award · Best Actress in a Lead Role in a Film · 2009 · Nomination; Satellite Awards · design of the film · 2008 · Nomination
- Production trivia
- A former paint hall in the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast's Titanic Quarter was converted into the post-apocalyptic city.; Lucas Cruikshank promoted the film using his character Fred.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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