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MORTAL ENGINES
Director: Christian Rivers Cast: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Leila George, Ronan Raftery, Stephen Lang, Patrick Malahide, Colin Salmon, Mark Mitchinson, Regé-Jean Page, Menik Gooneratne, Frankie Adams, Leifur Sigurdarson MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:08 Release Date: 12/14/18 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 13, 2018 The central conceit of Mortal Engines is a grandiose one. Upon our first glimpse of the city of London, now divided into levels and riding atop giant tracks, the sight instantly moves past the initial feeling of awe and the subsequent feeling that it looks a bit ridiculous. Eventually, it settles with a sense of admiration that the filmmakers decided to go all in with the idea of mobile cities, wandering the barren lands of a devastated Europe. While they want it to look impressive, the filmmakers also seem to realize that any visual realization of the concept from Philip Reeve's novel is going to look silly. If that's the case, why shouldn't they accept that reality and give us something ridiculously spectacular—not to mention spectacularly ridiculous? The first taste of the movie's grandiosity comes during its opening narration. The era of its tale is referred to as "The Age of the Great Predator Cities of the West." This is a description that gets better with each word—a fact that director Christian Rivers must have realized, given how the narrator provides just a bit too much of a pause in between the words. The story takes place on Earth some centuries after a global catastrophe in either the 21st or 22nd century, when a string of quantum weapons were detonated around the world. The very shape and placement of the continents have changed. The people of this contemporary era now call their ancestors "the ancients" and are baffled by their forebears (Given the numerous screen-based devices they have found, they assume we lost the ability to read and write). These future humans decided that it was better to have mobile settlements, from mining colonies to full-sized cities. We can assume it has to do with the scarcity of resources across the planet now, but whatever the reason, it's an idea so strange that one wishes the movie would pause for a history lesson. It does not, though, and that's unfortunate for two reasons. First, there's simple curiosity. Second, the screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson tosses us into the world with only the minimal information that's necessary. After a while of watching the movie's infatuation with its visual effects and production design, we start to wonder if the filmmakers care about this world as more than an excuse for spectacle or its inhabitants as more than pawns to take us from one extravagant sight to another. After an introductory chase sequence, which follows London pursuing and ingesting a district from a small mining town, we're introduced to a few important characters. Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) is planning to avenge her mother's death. About a decade ago, Hester's mother was murdered by Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), an inventor who says he's trying to create a more viable energy system for London. On London (not "in," because settlements are vessels, after all), there's also Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan), who works at the city's museum and ends up caught up in the whole revenge scheme. Because of Thaddeus' treachery, Tom and Hester end up in the wasteland and go on various adventures to find their way back. Two other characters, Thaddeus' daughter Katherine (Leila George) and an engineer named Bevis (Ronan Raftery), have their own adventures on London, although they seem more like placeholders for future sequels (Reeve wrote four books in this series) than viable characters. Despite the surface-level abundance of plot, most of it is an excuse to get from one place to another and, occasionally, to have an action sequence. On a certain level, that doesn't matter, especially when watching a movie that so clearly cares primarily about its ideas and its visuals. The visuals are, admittedly, impressive. The driving cities and town, as well as a city floating in the sky and another behind a great wall in some mountains, look precisely planned and, as they speed and make sharp turns across the plains, possess weight. Say what you will about the efficacy of and rationale behind these locations, but the filmmakers make them appear real, although not especially practical. As for the ideas behind this story, they're a series of kernels of smart and solid ones, missing any sort of explanation or examination. Take Anna Fang (Jihae), the leader of a group that's against the idea of mobile cities. If this protest sounds inexplicable, that's because the movie never bothers to explain the politics behind the movement. It's a conflict, though, and that keeps a plot moving. The closest the movie comes to expanding upon a clever idea comes in the form of Shrike (Stephen Lang), a man whose consciousness has been transferred into a robot. He raised Hester after her mother's death and is now hunting her. The character, free of emotions and driven purely by something akin to a program, is the most fascinating one here. Even he, though, is ultimately let down by a world that exists for us to ogle and a plot that sticks to routine, lest we might think about anything other than the spectacle. Mortal Engines provides the look of a unique and striking world, but in failing to go deeper than that, it doesn't give us a convincing one. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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