A QUINN REVIEW: MORTAL ENGINES
MORTAL ENGINES
(2018)
AGE: 12+
65% SWEET/SOUR
So What’s the Story?
Based off of the book by Philip Reeve comes Mortal Engines. The story of the aftermath of the sixty minute war that brought mankind to the brink of extinction. However humans found a way to adapt to the new environment, by building cities on the sea, in the sky, but the most dangerous ones, were on wheels. The predator cities such as London hunted other small villages for survival. Hester Shaw the witness of her mother’s death swears to avenge her by killing Thaddeus Valentine. She soon meets up with Tom Natsworthy an outcast from London, and Anna Fang, an outlaw. Soon they uncover the plot that London has in store, and the rebellion is formed to stop it once, and for all.
Is It Worth Your While?
Mortal Engines overall satisfied me with many reasons, although it was clearly flawed. Now here are my reasons. First, directing by Christian Rivers was solid, and he surely produced some great shots that were beautiful, and great looking. However his directing had flaws such as the fact that he liked to zoom up on people’s facial reactions too much. My papa actually gave me this reason, and I didn’t agree with it at first, but then I looked deeper. Next I thought that the special effects were outrageously good, and produced an incredible experience for the audience that was colorful, and surprisingly not a mess. The musical score was also surprisingly good, and filled me with adrenaline in the big battle scene. However during this epic scene I felt some clear Star Wars Deja Vu with a few scenes. I mean the rebellion destroying the massive weapon with futuristic ships, I mean come on! The part when Hester, and Thaddeus are fighting, and something happens that is incredibly similar to one specific Star Wars film. Finally, the suspense level in the movie was very limited, meaning that there were no real surprises during the movie. Overall I thought that Mortal Engines had solid directing, great special effects, a good musical score, but some, want to be a Star Wars film stuff here, and there, and a low suspense level.
How Was the Cast?
The cast in Mortal Engines had some good performances, and ones that were, well you get the picture. First we have Hera Hilmar as Hester Shaw. She is not a well known actor, but she did pretty well in the film. She managed to provide emotion without going completely over the top, and seemed to fit the character quite well. Next we have Hugo Weaving as Thaddeus Valentine. He has worked with Peter Jackson before in the Lord of the Rings movies, but to my surprise, he actually was not that good. He seemed stiff, and confused with what was going on. Plus, the character did not seem to suit him at all, and made a serious man like him, look goofy. Third we have Jihae as Anna Fang. She is a new actress, but seemed to provide the most commitment, and laughter into her performance, resulting as the best one of the movie. Fourth, and finally we have Robert Sheehan as Tom Natsworthy. One of the weaker performances of the movie Tom clearly missed the mark for the character. The moment he entered the movie in his opening scene I immediately made up my mind about him. He was just an over the top actor during the whole film!
Aging ‘The Engine’
Mortal Engines is packed with action, and an enormous amount of special effects. There are explosions, gun fights, deaths, and a dark premise to the movie. In addition, there is a zombie that may frighten certain children. Overall I recommend this film to older tweens, and up.