By Greg Ellwood
Special to MSN Movies

July 23, 2008

My journey to Comic-Con auspiciously began on an Amtrak train from Los Angeles' historic Union Station. In conjunction with the October release of its new movie "City of Ember," Fox-Walden decorated two railway cars in "Ember" décor -- a combination of '70s colors and mild totalitarian regime influences -- and invited a select group of press to learn more about the flick as they traveled down to San Diego for Comic-Con. A free trip in the company of journalists I see more often than my own friends -- how could I turn that down?

Some quick background: "Ember" is set in a 200-year-old underground city dependent on a massive, derelict generator to keep it lit. With rolling blackouts spelling impending doom, two youngsters, Lina (the Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan from "Atonement") and Doon (Harry Treadaway), discover the mayor (Bill Murray) is hoarding supplies from his people and the city's founders have left clues on how to escape to the outside world.

At the beginning of my ride, an "Ember"-dressed conductor told us what life would be like in Ember, provided us with a map and gave us warnings about not venturing outside the confines of the city. (It was cute, plus I always feel sympathetic for actors hired to play these roles.) The conductor then led the group of writers in reciting the "Oath of Loyalty to the City of Ember." (Somehow, I didn't find my copy of the oath in time to participate.) Thankfully, we then returned to the real world as producer Gary Goeztman (fresh off the success of "Mamma Mia!" and HBO's "John Adams"), production designer Martin Laing (taking a break from "Terminator Salvation") and director Gil Kenan ("Monster House") took some time to chat about the movie.

Although Goeztman and Laing both admitted to me they wish they could have saved more of the film's spectacular sets, it was Kenan's previewing of select scenes from the film that was the most intriguing.

"What was really cool to me about this movie in the first place is the underground city. To me, it's one of the sort of defining features of the film," Kenan says, in regards to revealing the city's true nature in the film's trailer. "If we are going to go on this adventure with Lina and Doon, it's more about where they end up than where they start off. I don't want it to fall into a 'Village' sort of thing, because this movie has a lot more to say than that one. And I wanted to take the onus off of that."

The first clip shown is from the film's beginning and finds Lina racing through the city, late to her "assignment day," an important moment in a citizen of Ember's life where his or her "job" is chosen by random lottery. The mayor looks thrilled to have this responsibility (a fine Murray moment), and Lina makes it just in time to recite the "Oath of Loyalty to the City of Ember" (hmm, where have I heard that before?).

Additional clips showed Lina and Doon escaping from a gigantic mutant-rat creature (nice tension), Lina accusing the mayor of stealing food (Murray steals the scene again), Lina and Doon discovering how to activate the "escape" sequence hidden by the city's founders, and the final sequence's river ride showing this film franchise's theme-park possibilities (certainly effective).

Speaking of franchises -- with the movie being an adaptation of Jeanne DuPrau's first of three novels about the "Emberites," one naturally wonders whether the picture will hint at any story lines for future sequels.

"I'm shooting this as a stand-alone story. I don't know how to make a movie that way," Kenan says. "The further adventures are very interesting, but it's a big relief at the end of this if I [don't] have to wrap my head around it."

"City of Ember" opens nationwide Oct. 10.

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