Mutants (2009)

Sadly Over-hyped

One of my all time favorites.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This French film about surviving a zombie apocalypse is not to be confused with the American film released around the same time, with the same name.Sometimes, it's nice just to sit back with a cup of tea and watch a group of people being attacked by the living dead in a world gone mad and unspeakable conditions with little hope of survival or anything other than a life of unbelievable suffering.In the icy grip of winter, armed with the determined but vague notion of escaping this carnage, Marco (Francis Renaud) and pregnant Sonia (Hélène de Fougerolles) hide out in an abandoned building miles away from anyone. Marco, however, has been infected, and over the film's running time we see his girlfriend treating him, pathetically thinking he will recover. As his slow and graphic disintegration continues apace, the couples' desperation is palpable.I always find it pleasing – and true to life – when the 'normal, decent' people are revealed to be villains. And that's what happens here when others arrive – some infected, some not. And so, perversely, the zombies – especially the completely mutated Marco – become a force for retribution, and the audience almost begins to side with them.There is no let up from the misery, gore, graphic violence and horror, and the film is sometimes in danger of becoming very one note. There are only so many times you can be shocked and appalled when someone is unexpectedly killed by the living dead. The only moment of optimism comes at the end, when it seems the long suffering Sonia has been saved. Although the baby she is expecting has been conceived with someone infected… Grim.

MUTANTS opens interestingly enough with scenes of confusion and what looks like the makings of a visceral horror experience. There is a tense scene with tense music as well as some interesting visuals. That takes us about 5 minutes into the film after which time MUTANTS devolves into an annoyingly uninteresting crap-fest. We think that the black female soldier is going to be a protagonist through the movie until she is KILLED by the other female protagonist in one of the most ridiculous 2 minutes of story-line that I have witnessed in some time. Oh, and I wonder if you'll find yourself saying - "Uhhh...is that a dude or a woman?" - when you first see the soldier. I didn't know it was a woman until the word "she" was used to describe her.But I digress. What develops is a classic "Army vs. Scientists/Doctors theme. Obviously, as is almost always portrayed, the army personnel are going to come off as irrational and ruthless while the scientists are portrayed as compassionate and patient. Sonia, as an emergency medical technician, pushes the envelope of compassion into the realm of stupidity.The scenario by which the autistic boy precipitates the fallout between the soldier and Sonia and Marco is wholly implausible. The soldier shoots the kid at virtually point-blank range with an assault weapon numerous times. You'd think that at least one round would exit the boy and strike Marco. But no. It's a minor miracle.You'd also think they'd be in survival mode - ALL OF THEM, not just the soldier. I can understand paranoia and turning on the one you don't trust, but turning on the strongest member of the party at that particular moment just seemed counter-intuitive. Morley doesn't try to develop much foreboding or dread. You know, the stuff that makes a horror movie scary! But I guess you work with what you've got: a bad story, fairly bad actors, and a bad script. All they are left with to try to elevate this film is the relationship between Sonia and Marco. Now we're looking at something straight out of "Dawn of the Dead" or "I, Zombie", or "The Return of the Living Dead". This relationship is pretty much the only element of the film that may make you try to understand what you're seeing. And, for all I know, I made up half of this character analysis because I wanted so badly to find something with merit in MUTANTS. At any rate, to summarize:Sonia being so trusting of Marco during his obvious infection and transformation seems to signal that she has already given up in a way. I understand that she too was bit and did not transform BUT Marco's hair is falling out, he's vomiting blood, and his teeth are coming loose. Did any of these things happen to her? Marco is the only one who seems to be convinced of his fate as he is the one experiencing the painful transformation. Sonia, on the other hand, is in denial. Maybe the message is that sometimes HOPE is a dangerous and cruel thing. She selfishly dangles hope in front of Marco's eyes by saying she is proof that he may be OK when she has no idea if this is true. She doesn't even know for certain if she will eventually transform herself. But, she allows Marco's suffering out of desperate love for him. He who is the father of her unborn child and the last recognizable trace of normalcy left in her world. She allows both of them to be tortured by waiting on the infinitely small chance that he will be immune. Marco wants to die and Sonia's behavior is tantamount to suicide. Love in despair is dangerous love. She even resists euthanizing him and ends up locking him in a cage, where he eventually transforms. I suppose this is a manifestation of her inability to let go or, perhaps, an attempt to control something in her environment (a caged animal). Things get promising when the other survivors show up. But this novelty quickly wears off due to more ridiculous plot development. Such as the dude with the machete - who lets the first mutant that attacks him in the cave bum-rush him from like 20 feet off. DUDE, you have a MACHETE! Or Frank, who throws the smoke grenade - which was effective - but then doesn't use it to his advantage and allows himself to be killed by a mutant who stares him down for a good 5 seconds before going for the kill. I suppose Frank forgot he had a gun.Eventually I'm saying to myself, "This s--t is just dumb." Sonia won't attempt to kill the now completely mutant-Marco when she has an easy shot BUT after he chases her and tries to kill her THEN she shoots. Why not just let him kill ya sister?Oh - she unceremoniously kills him with a lead pipe after he is snagged in the barbed wire. How humane. This was all worth it. I am laughing my a-- off during this part.And then..... THE CAVALRY ARRIVES! NOAH (Noah's Ark...I get it...) mows down the bad guys! What is up with this mediocre, Hollywood-esque, FRENCH HORROR FILM???? I mean...whyyyyyyyyyyy did David Morley do this? Does he not know that he is soiling an otherwise magnificent tradition?In the end, you can't even call MUTANTS a horror movie - it plays more like an action-flick. It's not terrifying and when the mutants catch you they head-butt you. MUTANTS suffers from weak story-line, character development, and dialogue. And in turn, we all suffer too.So watch this if you want. But my suggestion is to order a couple of pizzas and watch 28 Days Later, Aliens, and Dawn of the Dead (1978) instead.

France. A country know for real bad movies that only the French appreciate. But a sudden change a few years ago with Haute Tension has put that country on the horror map. And the holy three, Martyrs, Frontiere(s) and Inside has made an impact that France became the leader into the brutal gore scene. Men could only expect that it would always be like that. So France delivered us Mutants. It won't be much acclaimed as the holy three. The reason is that the others had some creepy brutal suspense. Here you can see things going typical for flesh eating mutants. Not that the movie is bad but the storyline is so simple , as always with that kind of movies. Being trapped, contamination, being bitten by a mutant, changing in a mutant, mutant appears before lover,...but before you out there are killing me, the effects really match up to French norms. And that makes the movie. If you adore gore watch it, if you like cannibals too otherwise just forget it.

French horror has a renaissance. Some of the movies that came out in the last few years have been really nice, so I thought I should check out the latest addition to the genre.A virus has spread through the population. Victims mutate and become cannibals. There is only one hope, a military station called NOAH. Sonia, a medic and her friend Marco have to stop at an abandoned housing complex in the middle of the forest because Marco has a gunshot wound and their car is out of gas… Mutants feels like a movie that is cut'n'pasted from different zombie movies. The characters are shallow, the plot unmotivated. A friend of mine often says "the trailer is better than the movie will be". That is the case with Mutants as well. A few exciting scenes, and unfortunately, that's it… Opinion: 4/10 – Nothing new, kinda slow paced, maybe something for the hardcore Zombie-FanVisit my blog: http://www.fourmyle.de/