Mortal Engines Review

Mortal Engines
Director: Christian Rivers (Executive Producer Peter Jackson)
Cast Headliners: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Lang, Jihae, some many attempted others
Original Release Date: December 14th, 2018

There was a time when the name “Peter Jackson” meant something very great within films. He was the director who gave us the legendary Lord of The Rings film series of masterpieces with such other things as his take on King Kong and the slightly-less-masterpiece Hobbit prequel series (sounds familiar...).   Now he, or rather his protege Christian Rivers moreso who is actually in the director's seat while he heavily executive produces , are back with an adaptation of the cult hit and acclaimed in their own way Mortal Engines novel series. One must respect more original ideas in this landscape of repeat blockbusters but intention and heart are two different things.
The genre and premise must be noted for being unique. Thousands of years from now planet Earth is nigh-unrecognizable after our descendants ravaged civilization with super weapons alongside a coincidental movement of tectonic plates which dried up oceans and created mountains and lava rifts. The people of the setting now live, for the most part, on “predator cities” which are mobile tank machine fortresses that wander the wastelands. These can range in size from the massive citadel and high society that is London to smaller community craft and raider vessels. Some live in the skies on balloons or planes or stationary as “stagnate settlements” as well. A big part of the conflict seems to be between the predator cities and the “Anti-Tractionist League” who oppose them.  The world building is fascinating but at times only the frontmost elements are explained which perhaps is a sacrifice for the film medium.
Events transpire to where protagonists are found in Hester Shaw(Hera Hilmar) a scarred young woman from the wastes who has a revenge mission in mind as she joins forces with historian Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan).  They oppose the London forces who have leadership in Mayor Magnus Crome(Patrick Malahide) and Head Guild leader Thaddeus Valentine(Hugo Weaving). Elsewhere x-factors exist like Anna Fang(Korean musician Jihae) and the cyborg “resurrected man” Shrike(Stephen Lang voicing a CGI creation).  It's a web of factions and motivations that may seem intriguing but ultimately make a typical plot borrowed from cinematic pieces seen many times before. One wonders what the effect is in the novel as well.
Part of why the plot is typical is due to the characters within. Neither Hilmar's Hester nor Sheehan's Tom bring much charm. Hester is an attempted fierce heroine but comes across as slightly hollow aside her gumption and some emotion through her backstory which wavers between cheesy and effective.  Sheehan as Tom attempts to have humor but none of the humor really lands aside from maybe some no name wastelander interactions. This also applies to his Londonian friends in Leila George as Katherine Valentine(daughter of one of the villians) and apprentice worker Bevis Pod(Ronan Raftery) who barely get any lines or things to do aside a moment of exposition or so.   Some similiarly small to medium impact but a bit of highlight (to an extent) roles are in the cool combat skills and demeanor of Jihae's Anna Fang(who definitely has the highest kill count of the piece) and shop owner Chudleigh Pomeroy(Colin Salmon). 
Luckily the villainous side is much stronger on the memorable front. Hugo Weaving has made a career out of playing bad men and Valentine is no exception. He's cocky, confident, ruthless and egotistical as one would want if coming across as slightly one-dimensional. However he sure can have a menacing look while he's giving orders. Malahide's Crome is in the same ballpark as well although to lesser quality. There's some decent stuff in their leadership bickering.  Lang's Shrike is also really cool feeling intentionally so inhuman. The CGI effects which move him can at times appear less than spectacular but he's also got such a cool look with his glowing eyes and rotting cyber flesh. Imagine the Terminator for a steampunk age. It can become expected but when he shines he shines. As a whole this is a film where very little shining can happen but it does exist.
  What the film lacks for in character and narrative it makes up for in style. The setting is so unique and it's highlights are the machines themselves. They're grindy, smoggy, crunchy battle pieces right out of some futuristic Industrial Revolution. This is one of the most steampunk films to make it to the mainstream in this way although it leans slightly more into fantasy epic which is befitting of the talent behind it.  The visuals and backgrounds are sometimes incredibly impressive and massive but other times melt into a CGI blur. Technically with Jackson in the backseat driving one would blame this on a debut director but one must consider River's primary previous experience was second unit on.... the Hobbit series. It makes sense then that he goes for CGI overload versus practical approaches. This is understandable but it seems that the jumpy direction gives these mixed results between cheese and spectacle. The action can be at times infrequent but also pulse pounding particularly when Mad Max-esque chases begin to occur or the seldom times foot combat or chases happens. It seems a missed opportunity to not have  more city-on-city action since these are like land space or naval ships but apparently that occurs more in the novel and later in the series both things we'll never see. Expect a lot of plane warfare which is very typical but adds to some big explosive spectacle when it isn't overly-glossy.  Some of the music by Tom “Junkie XL” Holkenburg also adds to the excitement (interestingly he worked on Mad Max Fury Road although it is a softer orchestral sort of approach to the guitars of that) but the pieces of note are few and far between.
Mortal Engines could have probably been so much more and one fears for its franchise potential with the box office already in a busy season. In busy seasons a film must be a “must see”. New franchises won't exist until that occurs but this tried. It's a weird, new , big world that has some crazy fantasy realms and action that's dragged down by lacking most of the narrative soul and characters that made Tolkein's work so good. It's not terrible, but it isn't too amazing either. Purely, decently, ok.  7.4 out of 10