The trailer for Mortal Engines seemed to tell everyone everything they needed to know about the world it inhabits: it's a post apocalyptic future, cities of the world have been thrust atop wheels and treads, and they're at war with each other, in some cases the larger cities literally consume the smaller ones. It's fucking ridiculous, it makes no sense at all, the logistics of consolidating a city into a mobile platform is unfeasible, and yet that's this world. Are you in?
Don't worry if you're not in, most people weren't. This movie that turned cities into tanks tanked at the box office. The first time I saw the trailer I outright dismissed it as yet another ludicrous YA setting... and it is. But Mortal Engines kind of dispenses with the Young Adult parts of "YA fantasy" and tries more for a conventional 80's cinematic fantasy adventure, not out of line with your Ladyhawkes or Willows. The teen angst or youth-in-drama aspect that is YA's bailiwick is cast aside for scenery chewing villains (Hugo Weaving doing his thing, as well as a CGI steampunk-robot-zombie who becomes a rather endearing force throughout the movie), intricate set pieces on the cities on wheels, in the mud in the tracks they left behind, and in the air where somehow advanced planes are a thing.
Honestly, I loved it. Ok, love is a strong word, and perhaps a bit much, but I liked it quite a bit. The WETA-supplied effects are incredible. You shouldn't believe that a city can live on giant tank treads, nevermind move at the speed they're moving at and hold together in the slightest, but the effects are excellent, enough to give you incentive to suspend disbelief. As well, the set details within the cities and other areas we see are phenominal, clever and eye-attracting easter eggs to the world we left behind for this po-ap future.
There's one small sub-thread of the film, following Weaving's daughter, that just doesn't play out with any real purpose or satisfaction in the film, but those scenes comprise at best 10 minutes total of the overall picture so easy enough to dismiss, and they never really linger. It would be a stronger, tighter film without them. If you know what you're in for -- an 80's throwback fantasy with a modern budget -- it's actually quite a treat.
I guess if I had gone in with the throwback 80s action flick in mind, instead of seeking a gonzo weirdo scifi, I would have liked it more. I guess I just wanted it to be ... stranger, but instead I got a very weird wonky world but a straight forward action flick. Imagine if Terry Gilliam or Luc Besson had done it.
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