Review of Mortal Engines (2018) by Chrisanne C — 05 Jan 2019

Despite all that bad publicity, Mortal Engines was brilliant, enjoyable and entertaining. Seriously, critics aren't giving this Peter Jackson-produced film enough love and are way too harsh. This dystopian Young Adults fantasy is a very well crafted visual interpretation of the same-titled Philip Reeves' first book of a series of 4 books, in what could have been the development of a very interesting franchise in the making.

I believe the film suffered from poor marketing on the part of Universal, and the lack of knowledge of the author, rather than the film being poor. The ensemble cast is well assembled. However, due to the many characters, the film suffered from a shallowness that appears to give CGI and action more oomph, but giving a bland feel to the characters.

My favourite bad ass heroine was none other than Jihae Kim as Anna Fang. I'd love to see more of her in films. She depicted her character very well as the strong leader of the "rebellion".

The film is a nuanced political commentary, which may be difficult to resonate with, especially for an American or Western viewer, as the narrative involves a resource depleted of what's left of London in the future attacking the walled up East in order to survive.

For me, this is a cult status classic. I've watched it three times already, and still loving it.