Mortal Engines: Film Review

Mortal Engines: Film Review

Cast: Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Nathan Sheehan, Jihae
Director: Christian Rivers

It may appear a Brexit parable written before the leave Europe campaign gathered steam, but Mortal Engines' pace is there from the get go - even if the subtleties of this revenge-driven tale are not.

Set in a future world after a 60-minute war, and where capitals now roam the world as moving cities hell-bent on devouring each other and resources, Mortal Engines is the tale of scarred orphan heroine Hester Shaw (Hilmar, who makes good fist of her softening from angry teen arc).

Driven by a thirst for revenge against Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving, in a growling, little else role), Shaw finds herself teaming up with Tom Natsworthy (Misfits star Sheehan, pushing for big screen charm) to try and prevent another all-out war.

Meshing steampunk aesthetics, a Terminator vibe, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and pushing it all through a prism of Mad Max Fury Road, games Bioshock and We Happy Few and young adult, Mortal Engines' commitment is to on screen action, rather than in depth character.

And on that front, Rivers and his visual team deliver in spades. The film starts at a rip-snorting pace, with an oversize steam driven "predator city" trying to snare its smaller victim. The cameras pan up and around, delivering a sense of scale that's second to none, and showing the incredible detail of the visual work done on Mortal Engines.

The world-building is also brilliantly visualised with it being clear that plenty of effort has gone into the details of the predator cities and their inhabitants.

Unfortunately, the same can't quite be said about the human characters who are largely underdeveloped and simply exist to shout "Run" or deliver exposition-heavy background dialogue or some of the usual Young Adult clangers. It's a stop/start/stop/start mentality that doesn't quite pay off for the film, especially if you're trying to be made to care about the characters within.

Hilmar delivers a solid turn, showcasing both the anger and suffering of her troubled past, but equally softening; and Sheehan makes a good bid for big screen stardom, even if some of the charisma of the character is underwritten, and saddled with the companion-asking-a-lot-of-questions trope.

Ultimately, on a narrative front, Mortal Engines doesn't do anything you wouldn't expect; at its heart, its core commitment is to action and nothing deeper, and sadly, it suffers a little because of it, feeling like pieces are being pushed together without the ease of a story to propel it along. It achieves the visual style with ease and offers much of the same chase ethic as Mad Max: Fury Road delivered.

More about spectacle than substance, Mortal Engines is sound and fury from the beginning - with just a hint more depth, it could have been the start of a new franchise rather than just some vicarious visuals.