Mortal Engines is ambitious film, lovingly executed by Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit‘s Peter Jackson. The visuals are perhaps the most stunning aspect of the film, as the movable Traction Cities of the Mortal Engines universe comes to life. Even the rest of the steampunk world of the film looks comfortably familiar while still being uniquely breathtaking enough that we, as the audience, immediately get a feel for the slightly gritty but fantastical tone of the story, and settle into the film quite quickly.
The film is, surprisingly, a post-apocalyptic adventure where the largest cities of the world roam around a desolate wasteland in search of resources. However, two plucky heroes must thwart a threat posed by London, largest of all the Traction Cities, before it becomes an unstoppable superpower. It’s adapted from the novel of the same name.
The Traction Cities capture the imagination the way the Technodrome of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did – effectively a giant self-sustaining tank that’s a devastating war machine. Admittedly, the opening scenes of Mortal Engines did have me thinking that all the Traction Cities could transform, but we really only see that at the beginning – the rest of the film has London chugging around as a steampunk behemoth, but it doesn’t quite transform per se.
Even the rest of the effects are wonderful, and this grand vision is implemented beautifully by Peter Jackson. There’s no expense spared when it comes to the detail of the cities, and you can see why this is exactly the sort of project that the filmmaker would take up. The digital and practical effects are, as to be expected, excellent.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite measure up to the visuals. It’s a fairly straightforward plot that doesn’t throw any surprises at you, but many plot points are also telegraphed in such a blatantly obvious way that there’s tension or surprise when it happens. Without the telegraphing, the plot would have proceeded at an acceptable pace, but the lack of excitement results in a lumbering gait for the story.
Being a fantastical, steampunk world, you also have some questions about how everything works – questions that the film doesn’t quite answer in the story itself. Mortal Engines also suffers from several plot holes and unexplained situations, which strains your suspension of disbelief a fair bit. More exposition would have served to drag the film’s pace down even more though, so perhaps this was a conscious decision to keep the story moving but some of the details scant.
Nevertheless, the characterisation is fairly well done. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) manages to pull off the whole eager, fish-out-of-water character with sincerity, and manages to endear himself to the audience as the film progresses. One would have expected him to take a more physical role in the climax of the film, but his involvement at the end does fit with his characterisation. Shrike (Stephen Lang), one of the film’s antagonists, manages to elicit true emotion from viewers, despite his seemingly one-dimensional role. It feels like it’s there to set up the inevitable future sequels of Mortal Engines.
Ultimately, Mortal Engines is a feast for the eyes and good old-fashioned fun. The cast members deliver, but what hampers the film the most is the advancement of the plot. Nevertheless, it’s a good introduction to what may be an exciting new film franchise series.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you like the steampunk genre.
Score: 3.1/5
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 128 minutes (~2.25 hours)
Mortal Engines is a post-apocalyptic steampunk adventure film that’s based on the novel of the same name.
The film is directed by Christian Rivers, with a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. It stars Hera Hilmar (Hester Shaw), Robert Sheehan (Tom Natsworthy), Hugo Weaving (Thaddeus Valentine), Jihae (Anna Fang), Leila George (Katherine Valentine), Ronan Raftery (Bevis Pod), Patrick Malahide (Magnus Crome), Stephen Lang (Shrike), and Colin Salmon (Chudleigh Pomeroy).
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