Caffeinated Clint
“Give it all you’ve got!”, one of the characters in Universal’s steampunk-does-‘’Waterworld’’-for-the Snapchat-generation pleas, and that they – the immense cast and crew – do, with everyone from the talented cast, effects crew, skilled director and production designers do on this go-getting but peculiar medley of past Summer tentpoles.
Resembling more a crosspatch of post-apocalyptic classics combined with recent war-fantasy fare like the newer “Star Wars” films and “The Hunger Games” (like this, also based on a YA novel) than the unique yarn the book upon which its based has bend hailed, vfx man turned director Christian River‘s film plays out like a hot, drunk chick at a disco – you can’t keep your eyes off of her, she’s gorgeous, and those moves are quite unique but that doesn’t mean she’s not a bit of a mess that will end up choking on her own vomit by the time she’s done.
The world is basically done. It was destroyed in 60 minutes. The survivors now live in monstrous moving machines. Think the terrain of “Fury Road” with tourists from “Valerian” popping by regularly.
Icelandic actress Hera Hilmar anchors the piece as Hester Shaw, a shadowy dissident ‘Katniss’ who we meet when she enters one of these giant, predator cities on wheels (that gobbles up everything in its path). Driven by the memory of her late mother, she teams with outcast Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan), and others, to bring down the bearded monster (Hugo Weaving) behind the machine. Or something…
“Mortal Engines” is a spectacle – from the lavish production design to the outstanding special effects and those immense ‘machines’ of the title, it’ll fog your glasses up at every turn. Like George Miller’s “Max” world, a lot of imagination and flair has been put into building the transport of the flick’s ecosphere.
Just as pretty are the young players – especially Hilmar, Sheehan and Leila George, playing the villain’s moralistic daughter, – who all give commanding turns, knowing the film could make their careers. The standout though is the always-dependable Hugo Weaving (it’s been a while since he played a slimy villain), absolutely mesmerizing as the charming but snake-ish scoundrel of the picture. Granted, the character is far more compelling in the film’s first half -when the seemingly ageless thesp – has better material to work with – but even when he’s reduced to a cartoon villain, with a predictable comeuppance, later on, the Kiwi great still brings his best.
That performance, combined with those amazing visuals, make this a must-see cinema experience – in that, if you’re going to bother with the movie, you’re best served seeing it at the theater. This is a movie made for the big screen.
The element of the film that undoes the wondrous and wacky but workable rest, and surprisingly so considering it’s penned by some true masters of the game, is the screenplay by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
Strong at first but ultimately succumbing to banalities and a listless, dull third-act that loses its audience right when it needs them (when they would otherwise be cheering on the film’s heroes as they enter into aerial battle with the baddies). It’s a lazy libretto to say the least. Clearly, the trio struggled to condense Philip Reeve’s book, and because of it, what begins as an intriguing and imaginative young adult blockbuster quickly transitions slowly into something akin to a tired after school adventure serial. It might’ve worked better – and we might’ve been able to form more emotional connections with some of these characters, particularly a creature-type (Stephen Lang) that shares a connection with the heroine of the piece; that whole arc is a head-scratching mess here – if the writers went the Tolkien film treatment here, adding rather than subtracting, building up the word and its central scenario over a series of films rather than squeezing it all into two hours.
