Review of Mortal Engines: The Movie

Review of Mortal Engines 

This review of the Mortal Engines film is long, over opinionated and full of unnessary concern about how The Last Jedi played out.

Deal with it.

Oh, and spoilers.

Making movies is a risky game of kind. For the studios, it's a numbers game. The successful movies fund and offset the duds. Sometimes you throw some celluloid at a wall to see what sticks.

But no movie is going to get a green light if it's a gonna be a dud on delivery.

So at the face of it, Mortal Engines being a love story set against the background of a post-apocalyptic Earth where some of the remaining humans live on giant traction cities that eat other for precious resources in some kind of zero-sum game called Municipal Darwinism perhaps does seems like it has dud potential (in the eyes of a risk adverse studio exec anyway).

Just throw that celluloid!

Anyways, Peter Jackson steps up to the plate along with his offsiders, Fran Walsh and Pippa Boyens so the royal they let him throw some celluloid.

I think this is a phrase I just made up. I'm copyrighting it just in case.

So anyways a trio from New Zealand that has more Oscars between them than most major Hollywood production teams stepped up.

And so, with a bit of American cash and some Kiwi splash, yet another Kiwi Oscar winner, Christian Rivers, was unleashed to direct the adaption of Reeve's YA novel.

And when the first trailer was released this author truly feared a dud was on the cards. We didn't say this publically (yeah, we know but wanted to support this film) but it looked like a cool idea with a wrong color palette that got zapped by a taser on acid.

Or something.

Details slowly came out which suggested promise and finally, we saw Shrike we were feeling a lot better about things.

Was a story about giant cities eating each other with Sir Peter Jackson's name splashed over it going to get a leg over the other hordes of films released this month (Mary Poppins, Aquaman, Bumblebee) or would it be a one and done?

For this reviewer, one who is closely attached to the books, the associated lore Reeve has built up through short stories and prequels and the fans, I can't quite bring myself rate it as a "That will do pig, that will do" but I can sneak in a "The battle of Helm's Deep is over; the battle for Middle Earth is about to begin."....

By that I mean, where's my damn sequel already?

I look at this film like I look at Transformers movie where giant robots kick each other in the head or giant Yeagar rise up out of the sea to kill everyone a la Pacific Rim. You accept it, buckle in for the ride and enjoy it for what it is.

Which is:

Some. 

Big. 

Dumb. 

Fun!

If you look at Mortal Engines as a concept any other way, you're probably going to end up feeling like the hordes of fan boys and girls who hated The Last Jedi.

Because this film is not about a box of err... Roses.

What are you looking at Dear Reader?

So after all these words, what of the damn movie?

It's probably the most spectacular train wreck of a movie that I've ever seen. And I saw the Transformers sequel twice.

THIS MEANS I LOVE IT!

That said, I'm pretty sure the haters are gonna hate, hate, hate, but the players...

The players will turn this major motion picture by a Hollywood studio into a cult film.

I'm certain there will be legions of book readers out there who have turned each page with fear and trepidation as to what would befall Tom and Hester next, who will want to see what it looks like when London calls and when they do, their mortal hearts will be happy.

So what of the movie then?

The Love Story

The story of Mortal Engines is often pitched as a Young Adult love story (of an inverse kind) but this movie has aged the characters into their mid-twenties so the love story that evolves is more natural in a sense but it certainly feels like Tom Natsworthy and Hera Hilamr didn't stay up all night together drinking Steinlager and working on their characters before they began rolling film.

Or pressing play on the record button or however they do it these days.

Both are clearly excellent actors but the relationship feels stilted (even despite the plot point of it)  - that's presumably what happens when you change the character dynamic of Hester by not making her the ugliest girl on any traction city... They sure took the feral out of that girl.

But by the ending of the movie, it's a believable enough relationship and leaves that nonsense with Rose saving Finn at the end of The Last Jedi in the sands of Crait...

The Heroes

You know how in Stranger Things, the guy that sings Sledgehammer sung Heroes by David Bowie?

That should be Anna Fang's theme song. Despite some hokey one-liners, the casting of Jihae is a triumph of the film.

In the novel, Fang was inspired by Han Solo from Star Wars and in this film, she treads those boards as a badass so well, she may as well star in the next couple of prequels...

Time will tell on that.

There's many a supporting player in ME that can be classed as a hero too.

Chudleigh Pomery (superbly played by Colin Salmon)

Yasmina

Captain Khora

Nihls, oh Nihls.

All just great characters and well played by the actors.

They all have a chance to shine and do so very well - indeed Fang's Anti-traction league team are possibly one of the most underrated crews to have flown in an airship in recent times.

Anna Fang, naturally gets a special mention in dispatches all of her own

In the novel, Anna Fang is a mysterious bad ass.

Sensing a fine character in the making, Peter Jackson kept her as less mysterious but upped the ante in the bass add department.

The character is great fun.

It was wonderful to see the books' Jenny Hanniver come to life. Piloted by Fang, the airship is a central part of all four original novels so it was great to see it in action, even if it's now powered to be as fast and deadly as an F14 Tomcat.

Jiahe's delivery of a few lines is pretty loose (which heads into Star Wars' I hate sand territory) but if you can get past that, you'll see Anna Fang is one of the hearts of the movie that pumps along quite nicely, especially with a triple powered shotgun in hand...

The Villains

Mrrrrr Anderrrrsooon.

That was my proper introduction to Hugo Weaving as the Agent in The Matrix.

A Lord of the Rings alumni, Peter Jackson and team clearly love working with the man and why wouldn't you want to when he can turn on a dime as Elrond or Agent Smith and become this horrible, horrible man.

Have you seen The Lovely Bones where Transformers alumni Stanley Tucci plays a horrible child killer? Every scene with Tucch was in felt like I was being violated by the mere force of his acting.

Weaving does the same thing here.

He's a fucking psycho yet he doesn't even know it. He thinks that he is the good guy in all of this.

Sure, he knows he's cut a few corners here and there or the odd young girl's face or murdered his lover to get where he's going but he's done it all for London.

So it's OK then, you see?

Magnus Chrome, Mayor London. 

I expected good things but this was a kind of a by the numbers caricature of the character in a way.

Patrick Malahides's Chrome didn't feel like he was as dangerous as he did in the novel and the plot point change for this character doesn't help, but makes for a good movie.

Shrike

Did you know a shrike is a bird that impales captured insects on cactus thorns? It's very helpful if you know this going into the film...

When you ask a man with the gravitas of Stephan Lang to play Shrike, you hope that this is a casting that will flow on perfectly into the sequel films...

And it is.

Shrike is perfectly played by Lang.

Judging from interviews with him prior to the film's release, he really got into the lore of the character (we suspect he read ALL the novels) and put his achting heart into a character that in many ways literally and figuratively has no heart (or does he?!)

Lang's green-eyed version of The Terminator is a chilling representation of what could be humanity's future: an embryonic cyborg where feelings might matter, but killing is a preference. Make no mistake though, this character is not a retread of a classic 1980's robot killer, it's a whole new take on love, which the film's ending sequences slowly reveal in a most poignant manner. It's like Peter Jackson has read the books or something...

I loved the look and feel of the character and the action sequences that featured Shrike are just bang on the money, and reason enough to see the film alone.

What about the look and feel of the movie?

Being a Peter Jackson produced film where all the elements of his empire in Miramar, Wellington, NZ have been brought to bear, you'd expect this film to be a CGI gore fest.

And yes it is just that, but frankly, that's probably why PJ wanted to do this movie as there has never been ANYTHING like this on screen before (Can all those people talking about Howl's Moving Castle now please quietly shuffle along?).

This movie's effects are arguably the best that Weta Digital have ever produced. I'm not an expert at all but I suspect they are certainly some of the most complicated, apes aside.

Let's talk London.

When London is framed as a hulking metal mass, the angles are so menacing. When starring up at the screen in the opening chase, I felt like I was about to get squashed by the damn thing.

How do you show and project a city that's 2.5 kilometers long chasing a smaller traction city? This is not Darth Vader's Executor ship in Empire that just sittings unmoving in space, this city needs contrast around it as otherwise how will you believe what you are seeing?

And: Holy Cow Batman >> when that city rolled by as I sat in my seat, I truly felt I was about to be monstered by 100000 tonnes of cold British Steel.

So, it looks great.

Shrike as a CGI motion capture is some fine work and gosh, the ending where the Medusa weapon comes alive is just magical.

Airhaven was a visual spectacle and seems like a fun place to hang out, despite it being a little too easy for robot assassins to turn up and try and kill everybody.

The soundtrack

The music of Mortal Engines is composed by Tom Holkenborg and it is simply superb. One of the things that has infuriated me about the development of Mortal Engines is the comparisons people make to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mortal Engines is not Mad Max, it's just Mad, Max.

But they do now share a composer.

Holkenborg is clearly one talented composer. The film soars with his music as it needs and there's some crucial, heart breaking moments in the film where it feels like his music is the thing that is turning the dagger in one's heart.

So what's bad about it?

If we're to get critical for a moment, and remember, we are accepting this movie as just some big dumb fun!, the acting is pretty clunky in parts - have a think to some of the early Star Wars films and you're on the mark. Indeed, the film has some key plot points from Star Wars.

Some of Anna Fang's revelatory speech to Hester is a bit OTT. I'd rather replace a broken LG dryer lint catcher than go through that again in a hurry.

There's also several plot points that have been changed which have some drastic effects on the story - so much so that in the film premiere the author Philip Reeve had to pause to figure out what was happening.

This is basically to say, Mortal Engines the movie has a very different ending than the book, but it works, even if it sneaks a moment which allows Tom Natsworthy to pull a Lando Calrissian move out of the Return of the Jedi playbook cross with a bit of The Guns of Navarone.

Katherine Valentine - well played as a character but went simplynowheree in terms of plot, like you could cut the character (and Bevis) and have no consequnce to the ending of the movie, which is completely different to the ending of the novel. 

If you've followed this site, you'll know we lamented that Hester's scar was toned down from 11 to 4. We got over it and enjoyed Hera Hilmar's version of Hester for what it is. FUN. Not FERAL. FUN.

The verdict?

Mortal Engines is a fun ride, a visual treat to enjoy while you eat overpriced popcorn.

We rate it a strong 7.5 out of 10.

It features a lot of talent on screen and behind it. While it differs from the book in many ways, this feels like the best version of the world of Mortal Engines that we ever could expect to see on the silver screen. 

Christian Rivers has done a fine job on his first gig as director and should be commended for making a decent BIG DUMB FUN! film. 

Sadly it appears the movie is a box office flop, on the level of John Carter of Mars.

Leave a Comment anna fang, christian rivers, hera hilmar, review, stephen lang

Review of Night Flights by Philip Reeve

Does Night Flights stack up as a good read in the Mortal Engines realm?

I was both happy and sad to pick up my copy of Night Flights.

It’s collection of short stories written by Philip Reeve as kind of as a tie-in to the Mortal Engines movie. Reeve is on record that having met Jihae, the actress who has played Anna Fang in the movie, he was inspired to go back to some discarded story ideas from the novels and rework them into this collection.

He said:

"The original idea was just to re-publish an existing story, Traction City, with a lot of new illustrations. But while I was in New Zealand last year I talked to Jihae, who plays Anna in the Mortal Engines movie, and it made me realise we need More Anna Fang. So I thought a group of stories about her, at different points in her life, might be a more interesting idea."

Reeve kindly acknowledges this inspiration in a dedication to Jihae in the book.

Some mild spoilers probably follow...

Night Flights features a cover by Ian McQue and he has drawn a series of pictures that appear throughout, my favourite being his interpretation of a Stalker.

I was happy because I was going to be able to read some more about the coolest character in the novels, Anna Fang. She’s kind of the Han Solo of the first Mortal Engines novel and then the character goes into hyperdrive but you’d be best to read A Darkling Plain to understand that...

I was sad to pick up the book. The first being that it was probably the last set of stories to ever come out in the Mortal Engines series and the second that it was so thin! I knew there were only three stories but maybe my expectations were too high.

That out of the way, I’m delighted to report that the three stories are an excellent read. Each of them flesh out the character of Anna Fang (correctly pronounced as Fung we learn).

The first, Frozen Heart, is a great insight into how as a slave Anna Fang escaped on the Jenny Hanniver. The first two novels merely hinted at this backstory and with it so fleshed out here, it makes the character appear even more human and it certainly gives the character her own 'moral authority' for joining the Anti-Traction League.

The second, Traction City Blues, takes place on London itself.

While Anna is playing spy, she comes across a Stalker and a game of wits with the London Police, herself and the Stalker plays out. It’s good fun and once again (from the novels), Reeve demonstrates the humanity of a Stalker so very well.

The final story, The Teeth of the Sea, is a self-contained adventure were Anna is sent by the Anti Traction League to act as an assassin to kill the Sultana of Pulau Pinang Island.

It’s a well set up vehicle to show how Anna Fang not only believes she was on the right side of the ‘war’ against Municipal Darwinism but that her moral compass is hers alone and that she is not a killer that simply follows the orders of her Masters.

It’s a quick but fun romp around the island with a fantastic ending (as all short stories should have).

On either side of each story is a narrative that binds together the three stories very well and it has a very nice pay off which I can’t reveal here but for anyone who has read and enjoyed the very first novel, they will probably quite enjoy it.

You can probably read this book in less than an hour so Reeve has left this reader with a case of wanting more which is probably a good way to leave things.

I just can’t help wonder what a full length novel featuring the adventures of Anna Fung may have been like...

One day Philip?

Check out the book's availabity on Amazon.

Leave a Comment anna fang, night flights, philip reeve, review

"P. P. Bellman, author of atheistic pop-up books for the trendy toddler?"

I came across this extremely thoughtful review or consideration of Mortal Engines by Max at What Conspiracy? and felt I should share part of it.

After taking us through a quick tour of academic snobism (is that a word?), a pass over of Harry Potter and an examination of Phillip Pullman of Northern Lights fame, he solves the meaning of a line that amused me no end:

"Philip Bellman with his series of atheistic pop-up books for the underfives"

That's what Max wrote anyway.

The correct quote from Infernal Devices is "..and wasn’t that the great P. P. Bellman, author of atheistic pop- up books for the trendy toddler??"

Which itself is a reference to the novels of Pullman. His trilogy can been described as the antidote to the Christian beat that C.S. Lewis framed the Chronicles of Narnia with - hence the reference to atheism in Infernal Devices.

Indeed, Reeve has included many cultural references in his novels.

This paragraph is possibly the best description of Mortal Engines as a series that I've ever come across:

"Reeve is still a damn fine writer. Mortal Engines is set in a future where thousands of years of squabbling over the ruins of a war shattered earth has culminated in a stand off between mobile cities and stationary communities. 

Now the physics and logistics of such a vision don't bear serious examination for a second, but Reeve is able to write fast enough that a reader doesn't quibble. 

He's also able to write characters with enough appeal that you're far busier wondering what's going to happen to them than you are picking away at the sustainability of "Municipal Darwinism", the bonkers post-thatcherite philosophy which drives the traction cities in their quest to scavenge smaller cities and fight with bigger ones. 

A few weeks after I've finished reading the books, I'm coming around to the notion that once you dig into the logic of his books, he's essentially marketing the same dumb notion of sustainable pastoral nirvana as Tolkien did, but that doesn't stop me from admiring the books he's written while smoking that weed killer."

I'm pleased someone else had picked up on the notion that municipal darwinism was indeed bonkers as the environment in which Mortal Engines is set would have meant that every city would have been eaten up a thousand years ago. But why quibble when it's a great device on which to propel the story?

Max also captures the character and fan favourite Hester Shaw quite well and fully appreciates the role reversal that Reeve puts on her and Katherine Valentine:

"In conventional fiction, Hester would die early, delivering a plot lesson along the way and be replaced by someone cute. In Reeve's world, Hester lasts all the way through four books, and gets meaner and unhappier the further she goes. Her one saving grace is her love for Tom. Meanwhile the cute girl who he's been lined up with in conventional narrative terms gets shot to bits in the first book."

He also makes a key point about character death:

"Reeve is cavalier with characters. If they get in harm's way, they get killed. If Reeve has spent huge energy bringing them to life, that's just too bad. The third book begins with a perfect case in point. 

A character who's been painstakingly nursed through the second book returns in the third as a key mover and shaker. Just when you've decided that he's going to be the villain of the piece, he takes a bullet through the head in the course of a theft turned hostage taking which is so elegantly set up as a plausible bungle that I was rapt with admiration as a focal character is dragged off in a submarine with nothing to be done about it.

Snatching her was the last thing anyone wanted to do, and by a simple set of bad calls (the most important of which was Hester's entirely in-character decision to kill everyone in sight) becomes the only possible outcome. Marvellous stuff."

A very insightful review indeed!

Concept design of Airhaven from Mortal Engines book series by Eleth89

Leave a Comment hester shaw, infernal devices, katherine valentine, mortal engines, northern lights, phillip pullman, review, the golden compass, tolkien

Our 'A Darkling Plain' book review

This is a SPOILERY REVIEW.

A Darkling Plain is Reeve's triumphant end to the Mortal Engines realm.

You'd think a guy running a Mortal Engines movie website would have read all the books before he began down such a path but we didn't so we're playing catch up.

After the great story that was Infernal Devices I began to wonder how the damn tale was going to end.

How was everything going to come together? I had high hopes as it seemed so well set up for a final climatic finish.

And then I accidentally read something online about the ending and I was a bit sad as it was one of the great book endings of all time.

But it's all about journey to the end right?

And what a journey right?!

This was the first Mortal Engines book to really amp the story to block buster / global levels and in doing so it lost a fair bit of the teenage angst (yes it's till there..) and got into the real deal of the piece:

Killing things.

You thought there was a lot of death in the prior books?

By Quirke does Philip Reeve have some news for you!

Wait.

What I think I'm trying to convey is that the weight of the whole world the Reeve has created rests on the shoulders of this book and it is extremely well carried by Tom, Wren, Theo and even bad old Pennyroyal.

But I'll tell you about my first favourite moment.

The books starts with the tale of Theo who proved his worth in Infernal Devices. It's nice and all but it was a great distraction for the arrival of of a key character. A dark shadow of a figure comes out of the desert on some kind of sand boat with sails. It's a dark and menacing threat. As I reader I felt a sense of dread.

And then it turned out to be Hester who proved to be quite the murderous soul.

And I was like, yep, she's back. Like the original Terminator but meaner.

Get out the way Sarah Connor!

And now we discuss even more spoilers & things.

Got that?

My second favourite moment was when Anna Fang went off the reservation (as if she wasn't already) and turned the ODIN weapon on the good people of Earth.

It was gripping writing by Peter Reeve and page turn after page turn of excitement. This moment was an excellent pay off for all the ground work that had gone into setting up Stalker Fang and everyone chasing the McGuffin of the 'Tin Book'.

Reeve's line of "There was nothing there but fire, the million mournful voices of the wind" was a chilling reflection of the destruction Fang had just caused.

It also reminded me of Arthur C Clarke's wonderful short story, 'The Nine Billion Names of God' - only in name as the story is completely different except for the fact we're dealing with the end of the world for so many people in each case...

And that just serves to highlight how far an author Reeve's had come by the time he did this fourth book in the Mortal Engines series. While you can argue it's 'same same but different', I felt Reeve's was writing with a deliberate purpose.

I suspect that's because he had thought of an AMAZING ending and couldn't wait to get there himself but he just had to set things up just right for it to be of any long lasting effect on the story that he was concluding.

A question that is a total spoiler.

Ready player one?

Hester's suicide.

Did she really hate herself that much?

While Tom and herself in many ways were star crossed lovers, she was no Juliet.

Why couldn't she live on for Wren? We know she kinda resented her a bit from her experiences in Infernal Devices but jeez Louise!

Game over man, game over. 

Professor Nimrod Penny Royal was a cliched pastiche of a fellow from the moment he met Tom and Hester in Predator's Gold.

In the end he played a heroic part - which was kinda clever as everything was set up nicely for a Shrike / Fang rematch so his intervention at the right moment was an enjoyable surprise.

I mean that in terms of the reading of the book, not for the character. No, he was a pain in everyone's ass and probably deserved to get a knife in the eye from Hester but he didn't. I suspect Reeve's is too a nice a guy to let that happen.

The book has the usual trials and tribulations that we would come to expect. The many twists and turns are well signaled and it was great to see choices made in Infernal Devices play out so well in this novel.

If you're a Mortal Engines fan, you've probably already read this book so I'm sure you'll agree that it's fine end to the series and I really, really hope that Reeves never even thinks of drafting a sequel as there are not many book endings that I will remember like that of this novel.

I've mentioned the last paragraph ending three times now. It's that good. A literary twist up there with the Fight Clubs and Life of Pi (s) of this world.

If you've read the first three in the series, this novel is the book that finishes what was started in Infernal Devices and we recommend you grab it from Amazon today.

Else, you really should start with the first novel, Mortal Engines. You'll fall in love with it from the first line...

Order A Darkling Plain from Book Despository

2 comments a darkling plain, philip reeve, review

So should I read Mortal Engines? Our review says yes!

Review of Mortal Engines, the first novel in the Mortal Engines Quartet

I haven't read a 'Young Adult' novel in many a year, probably not since I discovered Stephen King and Wilbur Smith as a young teenager.

But when I learned that Peter Jackson and Christian Rivers were making a movie about the book Mortal Engines I was intrigued and when it turned out the book was set in a post apocalyptic earth where humans roamed the world in giant mechanical cities that ate each other, I was in.

After all, if Peter Jackson saw merit in it, it had to be a good read.

Right?

Let's be frank, I'm a 38 year old Star Wars nerd with high expectations. I don't like to waste my time, if I'm going to invest in something, I need the return.

So let's just say I'm off to find the sequel to this book because it's a great read.

When reading this novel, one has to remember that one is reading it for the story and not the literary skill of King or Smith. It's simply a tightly written tale pitched at young adults.

There's a bit of boy likes girl and girl eventually likes boy which is written just right for the age group but the real tale is the tale of the politics of war and power and greed destroying and displacing families.

Oh and a bit of character self discovery through unexpected moments of heroism.



Following the naive and young Tom Natsworthy, we are introduced to guilds, class determinism and giant mechanical traction cities (London is the main one in this novel) that can travel the land devouring other cities for this resources and human capital. Tom meets fellow young adult Hester Shaw and they strike an unlikely relationship. Her world weary approach to life hardly complements Tom's wild eyed greenness but between then they manage to jump from adventure to adventure wonderfully well.

It feels like some kind of vaguely organized Mad Max realm but instead of V8 Interceptors tearing up sanding roads it is a giant lumbering beast that runs down the sand.

There are many interesting characters and sub plots which help to fill in the plot. The assassin known as Shrike provides an interesting twist on the classic 'bad guy' sent to hunt down the good guys. As I read his parts, I could only imagine him as some kind of Star Trek like Borg soldier programmed to do only one thing. Shrike's tale is somewhat bittersweet and is a nice counter balance to the trauma that Hester Shaw has gone through.

Whereas as Katherine Valentine's plot to determine the true nature of her father Thaddeus Valentine's mission seems to offer little but to serve as an explanatory vehicle just to show how evil both he and the Mayor of London truly are.

We really enjoyed the concept of Municipal Darwinism where the traction cities serve only to catch and consume each other. It adds a touch of inevitability about where the story is headed...

It all ties together nicely, if somewhat predictably at the end. We understand that author Philip Reeve originally intended that his story was for more adult readers and that a lot of the 'politics' was removed and the story aimed at young adults. We can only imagine what could have been - some kind of Dune-esque epic saga?

Mortal Engines has plenty to offer the reader. Reeves has a clearly wonderful imagination and his concise writing style helps to conjure the world of Mortal Engines very easily. It's very easy to see how Peter Jackson thought a good movie could be made from its bones, we expect to add Jackson to add some meat to them and we hope he explores the world of Guilds and class hierarchy even more so than this novel

Our verdict?

Mortal Engines is a fine read for any capable teenage reader and for those more mature Star Wars nerds, there's plenty to like as well. Order it now from Amazon.

Leave a Comment mortal engines, philip reeve, review

Mortal Engines Movie Review

This is a place holder review of the Mortal Engines movie. 

Making movies is a risky game. For the studios, it's a numbers game. The successful movies fund and offset the duds.

But no movie is going to get a green light if it's a dud. So at the face of it, a love story set against the back ground of a post apocalyptic Earth where the remaining humans live on giant traction cities that eat other for precious resources in some kind of zero sum game called Municipal Darwinism perhaps does seems like it has dud potential (in they eyes of a risk adverse studio exec anyway).

That is until Peter Jackson steps up to the plate along with his off sides, Fran Walsh and Pippa Boyens. Just a trio from New Zealand that have more Oscars between them than most major Hollywood production teams.

And so, with a bit of American cash and some Kiwi splash, Christian Rivers was unleashed to direct the adaption of Reeve's YA novel.

Leave a Comment review, some scars never heal