Directed by: Christian Rivers
Written by: Fran Walsh, Philipa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Philip Reeve
Cast: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae
Swift shot: Mortal Engines
The movie starts out with a fantastic chase through the Great Hunting Ground where London, now basically a transforming, tracked battleship . . . or maybe “battleberg” is hunting a smaller city. Immediately we are shown how Londoners react to being part of the chase and how exuberantly gleeful they are to devour this pathetic remnant of Europe that has the misfortune of being their next acquisition. One almost gets a sense they are cheering about soccer rather than the subjugation of an entire town.
On the soon-to-be-devoured city is a masked woman, Hester Shaw (Hilmar) who has designs on getting aboard London and doing some dark business, the business of vengeance. But as all this is happening, this action-packed pursuit, we are introduced to a dorky Historian, Tom Natsworthy (Sheehan) who is rushing to get to his rather pedestrian job at the London Museum. He is annoyed that London has to constantly run down these smaller anti-tractionist cities that simply refuse to assimilate to London. Come to think of it, maybe there are more similarities to Star Trek than Star Wars. London is basically a borg cube.
Anyway, as with all great ships, there needs to be a great leader at the helm. London is steered by the charismatic Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving) who is also annoyed with anti-traction cities, but he also recognizes that the Great Hunting Ground isn’t quite so great anymore. It’s essentially costing more fuel to pursue and consume their prey than the resources they bring in upon assimilation. In other words, this Municipal Darwinism shit isn’t working anymore. They are running out of resources to acquire.
Meanwhile, Tom is always getting into trouble for being late to work, so as punishment he has been assigned to guard duty. But it’s not what you are thinking, he’s being sent down to rifle through all the stuff that has been stolen from the newly acquired citizens of London and to “guard” the historically significant artifacts (relics from the past) from being tossed into the fire that fuels London. This assignment changes his life and ultimately reshapes mankind, all because he crosses paths with Hester Shaw and his mind is opened to the possibility he’s not on the right side of history.
But that’s getting a bit ahead of the story, as the two are both unceremoniously ousted off of London in a pretty revealing scene about who can and can’t be trusted, they are forced to work together to survive the sprawling desolate wastelands of Europe. All that really remains are the giant tread marks left by the crawling cities. Tom and Hester start off as enemies, so their relationship isn’t cozy at the beginning. But as it becomes clearer by the moment that Tom is actually a hazard to keep around, Hester’s motivation for not ditching him is not so much out of necessity as it is something foreign to her . . . sentiment.
See, Hester has had a terrible life. She is scarred from an encounter with her mother’s killer when she was just a child. How she survived that is nothing short of miraculous. But her survival skills help her and Tom survive. Tom just wants to get back home, to London, and Hester wants to carry out her vengeance. Fate intervenes to shift their gears to a new goal, basically savings millions of lives.
There’s a lot of character in Mortal Engines, and I was initially irked that we didn’t get to see giant battles between two roving kingdoms as I was expecting from the trailers. Still, what made me enjoy this film was the introduction of a character that I have to be careful not to spoil here. He was played in motion-capture by Stephen Lang, a “resurrected man” called Shrike. When you first meet him, you’ll see why I think Shrike makes the movie much better. His agenda isn’t quite what you are initially led to believe . . . from a certain point of view.
As the marooned duo try to survive the wastelands, they are eventually saved by Anna Fang (Jihae) the leader of the Anti-Traction League. She is as much a badass as you’d expect her to be as the leader of a resistance force that has a huge bounty on her head. And as she saves Hester and Tom, she helps Hester understand her purpose, her mission, is to stop Valentine . . . the man she wants to kill. So, really it’s a win-win for her, and since Tom was booted from London by the jerk, he’s on board for a little payback too.
The film culminates in a somewhat one-sided battle as London unleashes a terrible weapon from the past. This quantum weapon, called M.E.D.U.S.A., is what led to the destruction of much of the world’s population and cities. It’s bad news, and only a lunatic who doesn’t understand its power would be foolish enough to use it. Sacrifices are necessary to win the day, and allegiances and relationships shift at the end to reveal a new dawn for mankind.
Based on the Philip Reeve young adult series of the same name, this film delivers heavy on the action and will entertain you. At the end of my screening, someone shouted out in the audience, “Well that sucked!” And I wondered what they were on about. When Hollywood does something original, I applaud them for taking risks.
The movie definitely didn’t suck, the effects were pretty decent, given that we are to believe that these cities can transform as people are walking all over them. There were some obvious homages to The Empire Strikes Back, and there was a message about human nature and that love can exist in the most desolate of hearts. Maybe that guy who shouted out that the film sucked has never had the “pleasure” of working on a film. Because, while this movie was far from perfect, it was engaging and thought-provoking. I am sure he thought Batman vs. Superman was compelling cinematic gold.
