Mortal Engines!!! Big! Confusing! And a Waste of Time!

[RolandCuthbert]

Spoiler alert!!!

Though I will try not to reveal too much. Well, of course, the movie is horrible. I wanted to take my nieces, nephews, and their SOs out for a movie this weekend. I wasn't expecting too much. And Mortal Engines didn't disappoint. The scale of the flick is massive. The star of the movie is the city of London itself. Then pretty much every other character in the film is uninteresting, one-dimensional, and boring. Also, it is hard to watch people on screen, when they are just dumb. I guess I just like smart folks. People who would make better decisions and make wise choices.

The plot is very, very simple. So simple that the movie seems to add a bunch of confusing elements to try to make things interesting. Without really dumbing things down, it simply is about a evil man who is evil because he wants to be evil and who wants to gain more power for the sake of gaining more power. It is just set in an apocalyptic world after a war that has decimated humanity. The city is his instrument to obtaining more power. That's the whole plot.

The special effects are powerful. But it would have been more entertaining to just show more of the city, how the engines work, how everyday life in the city functions, etc. Why could they had not focused on why mobile cities had to be built in the first place. What was the advantage? But instead, the movie introduces more characters who have varying levels of interest to try to distract you. Some you get into for a few minutes, but they don't have sufficient depth to understand or care about them.

The dialogue isn't smart. It doesn't feel natural. The characters all feel forced. Hugo Weaving is absolutely wasted in a role that should have been written to take advantage of his range.

But some of you will probably fall for the main female character. I am not sure. I guess it kind of depends on what you are looking for in a performance. For me, even if she was a great actor, there just isn't any material here to do anything with.

So out of five stars, I give it 1 and half. A horrible movie. But not quite Jurassic World horrible. What was Peter Jackson thinking?

What a waste.

[Kiran04]

It's a "young adult" novel. What did you expect? Every "young adult" novel since Twilight has been Twilight. Divergent is Twilight. Mortal Engines is Twilight. Twilight is Twilight. Even Hunger Games was pretty much Twilight. Everyone is trying to replicate an old success instead of coming up with their own. Nothing new to see here.

[RolandCuthbert]

I am not the kind of person who was ever going to watch Twilight. But I thought this flick directed by Peter Jackson might be okay. And it was horrible. If Peter Jackson doesn't have a ready made masterpiece to direct like "Lord of Rings", forget it.

[MrMilti]

I saw the movie yesterday, didn't expect much, but actually enjoyed it. Sure, the story is pretty bland, but the visuals and artstyle were good, so I had a fun time.

[RolandCuthbert]

Yeah, if you go in with low expectations and I mean really low, it can be a cool movie for a Sunday afternoon.

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen it but I imagine it's like that movie the golden compass and 7th son.
I'm going to aquaman

[RolandCuthbert]

7th son looked like a hot smoking piece of trash when I saw the clip.

[Opinion Owner]

It was worse.

[DelilahRose]

I was gonna see it over the weekend but I kinda lost interest and changed my mind and went with the Spiderman movie instead. Seems like I made the right choice...

[Curmudgeon]

The whole premise just seems ridiculous. If it had been taken tongue-in-cheek or in a comedic fashion, like "Snakes On A Plane", or "Sharknado", then I could at least just enjoy the silly escapism and laugh.

[RolandCuthbert]

100 mil is an awful waste on a comedy. The poured an immense amount of money into special effects.

[Curmudgeon]

Relying on special effects alone? Are you sure Michael Bay wasn't directing?

[RolandCuthbert]

Dude, I thought Peter Jackson had talent also. I guess he doesn't. The Lord of the Rings was a ready-made masterpiece. All he had to do was convert it to the screen.

But trying to convert lesser known works, just isn't his cup of tea. If he has to actually create too much, he gets lost.

[Xyline]

I didn't want to see it from the beginning. Mainly because the entire concept looked stupid and forced. It what world would giant rolling machine cities ever have a reason to exist? It's just a stupid idea.

[RolandCuthbert]

But that's the thing. That part of the story could have been compelling.

Why?

But they don't bother with such details. They go right into the plot of the evil man who just wants to do some evil stuff.

[Leafpool2]

Hm, that's a shame. I have a friend who liked the book looking forward to this

[RolandCuthbert]

Well, they might still like it. It could be that I am just old and don't get it. The lead female character, I totally forget her name, might be interesting.

I think folks who liked movies like the new Tomb Raider, might like this flick.

[100lbguy]

As a physic nerd, this whole shit pisses the fuck out of me, how does that Hulk of a fucking city does not cause the surface of the earth to not form crack, especially at that speed.

[RolandCuthbert]

I mean, it was fantasy. But they didn't even worry about showing us how the mechanics could possibly work.

It was like that part of the story wasn't even worth telling.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

The premise was cool... the movie looked average, at best. It’s like transformers. No one came for the story, they came to see shit get blowed up

[RolandCuthbert]

If you are coming to see that, then you will be even more disappointed. The shots of the city moving are kind of cool.

But we learn nothing about how it moves, how it was built, what was the purpose, etc.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

That’s be disappointing...

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

Thanks for taking 1 for the team 😂

[RolandCuthbert]

Oh, it wasn't nuthin'.

The family wanted to see it. I am just the guy who pays for everything.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

Man... when “taking 1 for the team” gets real 🥺

[RolandCuthbert]

Tell me about it.

[MimiHashima]

I didn’t like the concept idea of this movie and it didn’t seem like it made much sense to me...

[NineBreaker]

That's the impression that I got from the trailer.

[LegateLanius]

It looked dumb to me. Now I am doubly sure.

[Secretgardenblood]

Good take

[RolandCuthbert]

Thanks!

[jacquesvol]

Interesting :)

[Mikayla03]

It looks stupid loll