In a distant post-apocalyptic future, the earth is a barren land, left in the hands of a few travelling cities, some of which are predators feeding on small towns for fuel. Mortal Engines focuses on a gigantic mobile mega-city called London, which in the open sequence, feeds on a European hamlet. The citizens of this prey city are made to queue up before being allowed to enter London and an announcement is made, “Children may be temporarily separated from their parents”. While the hunt does not yield enough resources, London ends up with refugees to assimilate and feed. “We should not have gone into Europe,” says the captain. “It’s our biggest mistake”.
In the opening 20 minutes, the film promises several contemporary parallels (Brexit, post-capitalism, colonialism, Trump’s separation policy) and political allegories that could have made Mortal Engines a timely reflection of the world we inhabit today. Sadly, the film quickly spirals into a farrago of hollow ideas that are neither thrilling nor thought-provoking. It chooses to align itself with Hollywood’s cookie cutter model of baseless action and destruction than make an attempt at imaginative world-building, which spins fan theories and endless speculations.
- Director: Christian Rivers
- Cast: Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, Stephen Lang
- Storyline: Hester sets out to kill Thaddeus Valentine, who she blames for her mother’s murder
Based on the first in a series of four YA novels by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines follows the journey of Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), who seeks to avenge the murder of her mother. She is fierce and determined yet vulnerable to traumas of the past. On her journey to kill the evil mastermind, Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), she encounters various people, some who help her and others who create obstacles. The ones who are depicted as “good” are hippy-looking and fulfil the racial diversity quota, while the evil ones, including ordinary citizens onboard London, are white. There maybe a lot to observe between the lines (read: colonialism) but the film at this point is so farcical and stretched that you couldn’t be bothered to credit it with anything more than what it is: a superficial start to a business-driven franchise.
As for world-building, which is at the core of both the book and film, the CGI-heavy universe of Mortal Engines is visually enthralling but it doesn’t generate much desire for you to live in it for a tiresome 128 minutes. The characters appear so disconnected with the setting that one could place them in any universe and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The film is action intensive but what must one do with all that carefully choreographed fighting sequences when one does not root for any character? The steampunk world is bereft of impact and consequence, which is unfortunate because the beginning of the film has some amusing details like a “Screen Age” exhibit and the relics of Minions kept in a museum. These images comment on a civilisation that was so obsessed with screens and technology that it eventually became the source of their destruction. If not for earth, a film like Mortal Engines makes you wonder if Hollywood is going down the same path.
