One of my favorite things about this movie is totally distinct from the movie itself, but is instead related to the Google search I saw wondering "Is Mortal Engines a sequel to The Mortal Instruments?" For those of you who aren't aware Mortal Engines is a sprawling steam-punk epic of the lineage of Lord of the Rings, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a youth focused fantasy drama in the vein of Twilight. I'm not sure they could possibly be more different, and one need only look at a trailer of each of them to know that.
But still, the apparently thousands of people wondering whether Mortal Engines was a sequel are responsible for my favorite head-cannon to date, in which Mortal Engines IS in fact a sequel to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which is in turn a sequel to Mortal Kombat.
Oh yes. The epic trilogy we didn't know we wanted.
So anyway, Mortal Engines. I'm here to review it, because I finally saw it, and I'm apparently not above reviewing a movie ages after it's been released. See... well, the vast majority of reviews on this blog.
Up above I said Mortal Engines was of the lineage of Lord of the Rings (LotR). I meant that literally, as most of the creatives at the top of the story tree for LotR were also at the top of the production of Mortal Engines. So there's a definite relation. I also meant that figuratively, because if you replace "fantasy" with "steam-punk" in pretty much any high-level description of LotR, you get a high-level description of Mortal Engines. They're both huge, sprawling, epic-scale stories through fantastical worlds following a few small character arcs and a mystical MacGuffin to a massive climactic battle. So you may be wondering if I'm suggesting Mortal Engines is as good as LotR.
Uh, no. No, no no no, no no... no.
No.
It's not a bad movie, don't get me wrong. But it's not terribly good, either. The characters are fine, but not especially interesting (their use of the word "tech" was legitimately distracting to me, but that might be because of this podcast I'm a part of have I mentioned my podcast? You should listen to my podcast). The script isn't obnoxious, but it's not very personable either, though given that literally everyone is angry with everyone else for about 80% of the run-time, that's maybe not surprising. But c'mon, the MCU has taught us that the script can still be biting and interesting even if everyone hates each other. Have you seen any of the Avengers movies?
The acting isn't Oscar-worthy, but it's not distractingly terrible or anything like that. Hugo Weaving, unsurprisingly, turns in the strongest performance, working wonders with a character who's motivations could be charitably described as "present". There's some good action, which is fun primarily because the places it's happening are really interesting, though The Lady In Red (I'm not looking up her character's name) does some pretty sweet stuff with a pistol that could have come straight from Equilibrium. The story is consistent and moves pretty well, but it has just as many different unique and interesting locations as a LotR movie and runs a full hour shorter. It's weird to say, but I honestly think this movie could have benefitted from a Hobbiting, which is to say it could have been split into two movies or stretched out to 3 hours.
OR being the operative word there, Peter.
All that said, the movie stands out based on the uniqueness of its premise, and the way it executes on that premise visually. Because for as average as the movie is, I still think it warrants a viewing simply for the strength of its VFX models. The cities and towns, the landscapes and airships, all of it was incredibly impressive both in the quality of the overall construction and the level of detail they packed into them. I found myself wishing that the city of London from the movie was actually a sprawling VR experience instead of a setting in this movie. Which maybe isn't high praise for the movie itself, but... well, yeah. It's not.
Even still, it pulled me in, I wanted to just take a tour or go exploring. And in fact most of the settings left me feeling that way, almost like they'd been built for something larger than this movie. They felt real and complete in the same sort of way that, say, Edoras does in LotR. So yeah, there's another comparison, but in this case Mortal Engines holds its own very well.
Also, the music is really pretty good. Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, does a great job giving us a score that matches the unusual blend of scenic and stylistic sources, and results in a London theme that is equal parts steam-punk fantasy and victorian pride. Very well done.
So, my final thoughts. You should watch this movie if you enjoy a huge visual experience that is impressive for its scale. If that's not really your cup of tea, like you prefer being able to relate to the characters, or draw in their emotions, or maybe you like clever and snappy dialogue, or a tightly wound story driven by palpable tensions, or perhaps a groundbreaking treatise on the internal conflicts and states of the human experience...
Probably give this'n a pass.
But still, the apparently thousands of people wondering whether Mortal Engines was a sequel are responsible for my favorite head-cannon to date, in which Mortal Engines IS in fact a sequel to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which is in turn a sequel to Mortal Kombat.
Oh yes. The epic trilogy we didn't know we wanted.
So anyway, Mortal Engines. I'm here to review it, because I finally saw it, and I'm apparently not above reviewing a movie ages after it's been released. See... well, the vast majority of reviews on this blog.
Up above I said Mortal Engines was of the lineage of Lord of the Rings (LotR). I meant that literally, as most of the creatives at the top of the story tree for LotR were also at the top of the production of Mortal Engines. So there's a definite relation. I also meant that figuratively, because if you replace "fantasy" with "steam-punk" in pretty much any high-level description of LotR, you get a high-level description of Mortal Engines. They're both huge, sprawling, epic-scale stories through fantastical worlds following a few small character arcs and a mystical MacGuffin to a massive climactic battle. So you may be wondering if I'm suggesting Mortal Engines is as good as LotR.
Uh, no. No, no no no, no no... no.
No.
It's not a bad movie, don't get me wrong. But it's not terribly good, either. The characters are fine, but not especially interesting (their use of the word "tech" was legitimately distracting to me, but that might be because of this podcast I'm a part of have I mentioned my podcast? You should listen to my podcast). The script isn't obnoxious, but it's not very personable either, though given that literally everyone is angry with everyone else for about 80% of the run-time, that's maybe not surprising. But c'mon, the MCU has taught us that the script can still be biting and interesting even if everyone hates each other. Have you seen any of the Avengers movies?
The acting isn't Oscar-worthy, but it's not distractingly terrible or anything like that. Hugo Weaving, unsurprisingly, turns in the strongest performance, working wonders with a character who's motivations could be charitably described as "present". There's some good action, which is fun primarily because the places it's happening are really interesting, though The Lady In Red (I'm not looking up her character's name) does some pretty sweet stuff with a pistol that could have come straight from Equilibrium. The story is consistent and moves pretty well, but it has just as many different unique and interesting locations as a LotR movie and runs a full hour shorter. It's weird to say, but I honestly think this movie could have benefitted from a Hobbiting, which is to say it could have been split into two movies or stretched out to 3 hours.
OR being the operative word there, Peter.
All that said, the movie stands out based on the uniqueness of its premise, and the way it executes on that premise visually. Because for as average as the movie is, I still think it warrants a viewing simply for the strength of its VFX models. The cities and towns, the landscapes and airships, all of it was incredibly impressive both in the quality of the overall construction and the level of detail they packed into them. I found myself wishing that the city of London from the movie was actually a sprawling VR experience instead of a setting in this movie. Which maybe isn't high praise for the movie itself, but... well, yeah. It's not.
Even still, it pulled me in, I wanted to just take a tour or go exploring. And in fact most of the settings left me feeling that way, almost like they'd been built for something larger than this movie. They felt real and complete in the same sort of way that, say, Edoras does in LotR. So yeah, there's another comparison, but in this case Mortal Engines holds its own very well.
Also, the music is really pretty good. Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, does a great job giving us a score that matches the unusual blend of scenic and stylistic sources, and results in a London theme that is equal parts steam-punk fantasy and victorian pride. Very well done.
So, my final thoughts. You should watch this movie if you enjoy a huge visual experience that is impressive for its scale. If that's not really your cup of tea, like you prefer being able to relate to the characters, or draw in their emotions, or maybe you like clever and snappy dialogue, or a tightly wound story driven by palpable tensions, or perhaps a groundbreaking treatise on the internal conflicts and states of the human experience...
Probably give this'n a pass.
Comments
Post a Comment