Review of Mortal Engines (2018) by Davrosdaleks1 — 17 Dec 2018

I'm afraid I'm basically mimicking the general opinion on this, but Mortal Engines is more style than substance.

Visually this one of those rare visual masterpieces. Director Christian Rivers was a storyboard artist/visual effects guy on the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit films, and he knows how build a world. The film contains a sort of cyberpunk-ish reality that combines the old and new. Everything from the technology to the clothing to even the natural environment feels completely distinctive. The giant tank-like city of London is something to behold. The opening where we're introduced to the place is such a breathtaking scene.

The film also has an impressively designed secondary antagonist in the form of the disturbing and relentless Shrike, a cyber-zombie with a piercing voice.

Before I get into the plot, understand that the story and actors are decent, just not strong enough to sustain the 2 hour, 8 minute run time. The script is by Peter Jackson and his regular co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Like King Kong and the Hobbit films, they don't realize less is more. Dialogue and some action scenes just go on a little too long. In fairness, the length gives the writers ample time to explain how this busy world works. Even then there are a couple script holes: a character figures out a plot point too quickly without enough plausible context and a supporting character just sort of vanishes once he served his purpose.

The film unsuccessfully romantically pairs the two main characters Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) and Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan). It does a wonderful job of building a friendship and why they'd trust each other, but the love aspect is unbelievable. It happens too quickly, and they have no chemistry.

Plot-wise the standout character is again Shrike. He has the most sympathetic story-line. In the pantheon of good villains from weak films, I hope Shrike ends up being remembered like the Darkness from Legend and not forgotten like Maximillian from the Black Hole.

Despite it's clunkiness, I highly recommend you see this just for this experience. You just may want to watch it at home while your washing the dishes or working on a project.