Synopsis
Cities have become mobile to help ensure their survival. London is a mighty foe and is searching for much needed resources. Can Hester, Tom and their new airborne allies stop her in her tracks before the destruction of the idyllic static city.
Review
First things first. You have to acknowledge how good the effects are in this movie. The first view we get of London as an entire city is incredible, the sheer size and detail of it is truly impressive. The small mining town that we briefly see is also a sight to behold. The sets just left me in awe. Their encounter is what you might call Transformer cities participating in an early heat on Robot Wars. Two wonderful creations, but one sadly is probably due a beating.
I would love to see a side by side comparison of footage before and after effects. Some of it you know must be CGI, but you can never quite tell.
It wasn't just the sets that got the CGI treatment. During the film I had wondered how they managed to create Hester's rather impressive scar. In an interview online they explain that they CGId that on because there was no other option for what they wanted to create.
Of course the necessary Hollywood tweaks have been made. Getting it to a two hour run is obviously a challenge but to a film watcher it doesn't seem to leave any glaring gaps in the story they've shown. A slightly unpopular choice may have been the aging up of the characters. Teen dystopian fiction has been done to death evidently. I'm not against this change personally. The cast work well together, and the fact that adult actors play teenagers all the time on screen means that you're never really certain how old characters are supposed to be anyway.
You know me, I don't try to think a lot while I'm watching films. So much so that I missed the Star Wars vibes that lots of you were feeling. I read that this was intentional during the adaptation process... and that somehow makes me like the film less. It seems like in an attempt to make it more watchable they might have unintentionally annoyed audiences.
This adaptation is certainly suited to an older audience. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have had a negative impact on parents bringing their kids to see it. It's always nice to see families coming to see things together, and this week it seems to have brought them out in droves.
There's an impressive cast, including Hugo Weaving as our main villain*, and one of my favourite, Colin Salmon, in a few brief scenes. The actor that caught my eye in particular was Robert Sheehan. Almost instantly I knew that this was the man who should have been Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts. Tom's role isn't that far off Newt's, he's basically the Newt of inanimate objects.
(*What I will say is that Valentine is quite a good villain in that he appears almost good at times and then he really turns and the audience get a chance to properly dislike him... but I don't know if I agree with how much of that you discovered in the trailers.)
Cast aside, the characters weren't entirely memorable. Shrike probably had the best tale and once you discovered his motivation the rest of his scenes held an amazing impact. It's a shame that the background there wasn't able to be explored/explained more. At the other end of the spectrum you've got Katherine Valentine and Bevis Pod who really feel like the odd ones out. They have quite big moments in the film but then they disappear again. It almost felt like they had bigger parts that were lost in the editing suite to get the film to the right length.
I'm very aware that I don't often talk about the story a lot when doing these reviews. Mainly I guess that it's the hardest place to talk about and avoid spoilers. Mortal Engines' story line isn't a bad one, and while you're left with the potential for the next installment it does leave it as a complete story.
It feels weird to say this but I loved the film without the story. The graphics were so good that honestly most of the time I was only vaguely following the story. That isn't a negative thing as such. The story was just kind of there still, and when I picked it up again it was easy to workout what was happening.
The tardiness of my recent reviewing habits have caused me some issues with this review. Had I reviewed it when I came out of the screening I probably would have given it five stars because I was genuinely left in awe after all the effects. But having had time to read up about the adaptation process and things surrounding the film I'm drawn to a lower rating. I can't deny that the graphics are carrying the film through some underlying issues.
What you should do
Despite my last comment above this is an entertaining film to watch, and the impact will be so much better on the big screen. Go and see it, come home and read the book if you haven't already and then grumble about the differences.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'm not sure that I need much from the film, it appears that I already have myself a rather impressive historical collection at home that would put even Lenina Huxley to shame!
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