Mortal Engines (D or 1/4 stars)
DISASTER. Not only is 'Mortal Engines' (based on a sci-fi/fantasy young adult novel, directed by Christian Rivers, written by Peter Jackson & his amazing writing team, & produced by Jackson) - in my estimation - a bad movie, but it made $15 million at the North American box office GRAND TOTAL off of a $100 million budget ... catastrophe. The time frame for this film is in the distant future, where the world has been ravaged into a steampunk post-apocalyptic existence where cities are now enormous roving vehicles that are in search for smaller cities to devour for food & fuel. The biggest is city is London, where head of the Guild of Historians, Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) is collecting 'old tech' {toasters, cell phones, anything} to build something in secret.
Meanwhile, a woman from the wastelands, Hester Shaw (Icelandic actress, Hera Hilmar), makes her way aboard London & tries to assassinate a duplicitous Valentine. She is stopped by historian apprentice, Tom (Robert Sheehan); but then joins up with her after hearing her side of the story. Hester & Tom are both dropped into the wastes, where they're rescued by and then join forces with a rebel pilot, Anna Fang (Jihae, enjoyed her) and her Anti-Traction League. They all attempt to stop Valentine before he's able to make a death-weapon active. What's more: undead "resurrected" stalker (Stephen Lang) is after Hester, and Valentine's daughter, Katherine (Leila George), discovers what her father is really up to. Chaos ensues.
I liked this film to 2012's John Carter in its epic, sci-fi fantasy-ness. Cool visuals, characters that get swallowed up by inept filmmaking. That said, I liked John Carter despite its poor reviews. This time, however, I align with the critics. 'Mortal Engines' is a mechanical movie that awkwardly borrows from every sci-fi/fantasy flick of the last 4 decades, smashing everything together with a lack of clarity, logic or genuine emotion {I'm reminded of 2017's Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets}. Now, there ARE fleeting moments of this 128 min. long film that I kinda sorta dug. A character moment here, a dose of action, there. The steampunk art direction & costume design is pretty cool {Miyazaki-like}. And when you're not getting enveloped by an onslaught of wearying CGI, some of those effects impress. But the rest of this film is just numbing. It is joyless, soulless & frequently dull.
'Mortal Engines' is too childish for teens, and yet, very violent for young viewers -- the filmmakers missed the mark there, too. The action scenes are piled one on top of the other, chock full of logic-defying happenstance; people leap out of planes on to bits of metal while rebel-fighter pilots whizz around them -- they are not superheroes! I loathe when that happens in films. Also, everything that happens happens only to serve the plot; there's a scene late in the game involving the opening of a locket and the discovery of something inside that irked me to no end - it could've been opened way earlier than it was. There are predictable late-in-the-game standoffs & revelations. The cast {no one stinks, no one impresses} spends most of the film either scowling or staring at some seemingly awe-inspiring green screen visual. And the dialogue is peppered with cringe-inducing, well-worn catchphrases. To sum up, this movie is inept, busy, yet empty in all of its facets.
Meanwhile, a woman from the wastelands, Hester Shaw (Icelandic actress, Hera Hilmar), makes her way aboard London & tries to assassinate a duplicitous Valentine. She is stopped by historian apprentice, Tom (Robert Sheehan); but then joins up with her after hearing her side of the story. Hester & Tom are both dropped into the wastes, where they're rescued by and then join forces with a rebel pilot, Anna Fang (Jihae, enjoyed her) and her Anti-Traction League. They all attempt to stop Valentine before he's able to make a death-weapon active. What's more: undead "resurrected" stalker (Stephen Lang) is after Hester, and Valentine's daughter, Katherine (Leila George), discovers what her father is really up to. Chaos ensues.
I liked this film to 2012's John Carter in its epic, sci-fi fantasy-ness. Cool visuals, characters that get swallowed up by inept filmmaking. That said, I liked John Carter despite its poor reviews. This time, however, I align with the critics. 'Mortal Engines' is a mechanical movie that awkwardly borrows from every sci-fi/fantasy flick of the last 4 decades, smashing everything together with a lack of clarity, logic or genuine emotion {I'm reminded of 2017's Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets}. Now, there ARE fleeting moments of this 128 min. long film that I kinda sorta dug. A character moment here, a dose of action, there. The steampunk art direction & costume design is pretty cool {Miyazaki-like}. And when you're not getting enveloped by an onslaught of wearying CGI, some of those effects impress. But the rest of this film is just numbing. It is joyless, soulless & frequently dull.
'Mortal Engines' is too childish for teens, and yet, very violent for young viewers -- the filmmakers missed the mark there, too. The action scenes are piled one on top of the other, chock full of logic-defying happenstance; people leap out of planes on to bits of metal while rebel-fighter pilots whizz around them -- they are not superheroes! I loathe when that happens in films. Also, everything that happens happens only to serve the plot; there's a scene late in the game involving the opening of a locket and the discovery of something inside that irked me to no end - it could've been opened way earlier than it was. There are predictable late-in-the-game standoffs & revelations. The cast {no one stinks, no one impresses} spends most of the film either scowling or staring at some seemingly awe-inspiring green screen visual. And the dialogue is peppered with cringe-inducing, well-worn catchphrases. To sum up, this movie is inept, busy, yet empty in all of its facets.