Written on Dec 7, 2018
SYNOPSIS: Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.
The opening sequence of Mortal Engines is captivating with a chase in the works and resembling films in the Transformers and Mad Max franchises. And that's before you realise how long this film has been dragged out to be.
After watching the film at the cinema almost a week earlier than the US, and just about 12 hours after arriving at Singapore from Australia, the opening sequence remains as the best moment of the film. At the beginning it did feel that this film would be something different, then it became more complicated, confusing and even exhausting. It ended with more questions than it answered, and the state of other characters like Leila George D'Onofrio's Katherine Valentine, or how the Londoners felt as to how things turned out to be, were unknown and unresolved.
The film's main character is Hera Hilmarsdóttir's Hester Shaw, and while we do hear the two words "Hester Shaw" for an unbearable number of times in the film, Robert Sheehan's Tom Natsworthy was a pretty enjoyable character to see. Enthusiastic Tom helped the confined Hester in many ways and vice-versa both physically and emotionally. Though the relationship between the two characters seemed rushed and pushed forward without really developing throughout the film. The main conclusion of Hester's story-arc is not of finally avenging her mother but instead discovering her true origins. The flashbacks and revelations not mainly about her deceased mother but of her origins as a whole. And not always her discovering but sometimes her already knowing but us discovering.
Jihae had less emotion to her character Anna Fang, keeping the same serious face throughout the entire film, without really feeling heroic. Hugo Weaving's Thaddeus Valentine sure was ruthless and copelling, but lacks a certain menace that drives his motivations. In my opinion I think the film should have further explored his relationship with his daughter, maybe her hopes of who she wanted her father to be could have changed the heart and actions of Thaddeus Valentine.
It seems to me that when Mortal Engines does release in USA, it will struggle at the box office, competing against other December-due films like Aquaman and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. I'll rate Mortal Engines a 4/10.