Movie Review: Mortal Engines

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 A mysterious young woman, Hester Shaw, emerges as the only one who can stop a giant, predator city on wheels devouring everything in its path. Feral, and fiercely driven by the memory of her mother, Hester joins forces with Tom Natsworthy, an outcast from London, along with Anna Fang, a dangerous outlaw with a bounty on her head.

It was Peter Jackson's name that first caught my eye; the man who directed the masterpiece that was the Lord of the Rings trilogy is now releasing a steam/dieselpunk action adventure movie?  Count me in!

(And okay, Robert Sheehan's character looked really handsome...)

Anyway, based on the trailers, I thought this would be a fairly fluffy, generic save-the-world story.  And, in a way, it was.  But it was much more exciting, and a lot more touching than I expected!  Also, no one prepared me for how scary this movie would be.  There's a character who **SPOILER** is a lot like the Terminator from the first Terminator movie, and it's freaky as all get-out.**END SPOILER**

The whole concept of the film requires the watcher to suspend their disbelief quite a bit, but if you accept the rules of the world that are presented to you, Mortal Engines is a super fun (and nerve-wracking) ride all the way. 

PROS

This movie is one of those movies that just looks really cool.  It doesn't really matter that moving cities wouldn't work like that, or that none of the flying machines would ever make it off the ground, what matters is--it's exciting!  And I've decided I want a red airship like Anna's.  

I was also pleasantly surprised by the characters--my personal favorite part of any story.  I went into the film sort of expecting a tense, I'm-better-than-you/I-don't-need-your-help drama between Hester and Tom, but that's not what we got.  There was some tension at first, but in general these characters were kind, caring individuals with pretty great senses of loyalty.  The villain was pretty good too:  an opportunist masquerading as an idealist, or perhaps a bit of both.  

The movie was also surprisingly clean; apart from a few swear words, it wasn't inappropriate, or even particularly violent.  Except for that one character, which I'll talk about in the next part...

CONS

The few swear-words I mentioned before, and the One Character, who is a mix of Terminator-style robot and zombie.  He looks pretty freaky, but anybody who can handle Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean can take this guy.  

Intense action sequences may cause young viewers distress, and there are several character deaths.  In a flashback, a character is revealed to have spent most of their childhood in a rather creepy place, where the person who raised them enjoyed collecting broken toys and such.  Images of battered doll-heads and broken clown dolls may be disturbing to some viewers.  

OVERALL

I would recommend this movie to anybody who likes action/adventure, steampunk, dieselpunk, cyberpunk, romance, or suspense.  It's highly enjoyable, and I can't wait to see it again.

Guard young viewers as you see fit--there are some frightening things here. But in general, I'd say this is a fun film, and I'd like to see some sequels.  

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-Emmarayn Redding