Steampunk Paradise

Steampunk is quite possibly the most overlooked subgenres of science fiction. Most people prefer space operas, or stories of time travel, or other high concepts, while steampunk stories get lost in the shuffle. However, the subgenre does have its loyal fanbase, and boy, are they going to love this movie! Adapted from the novel by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines is a post-apocalyptic tale in which London is now a giant city on wheels. Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fame, co-wrote the screenplay and produced the movie, while Christian Rivers serves as director. Outside of the trailers, I had no idea what this flick was going to be about, but upon seeing it, there were plenty of imaginative ideas, but much like the steampunk genre, they all get lost in the shuffle.

Set in the distant future, an event known as “The Sixty Minute War” has occurred, caused by a “quantum energy” weapon called “MEDUSA,” which has resulted in the continents being shifted out of placement. Because of this, massive “predator cities” like London travel around the land in search of smaller towns on wheels, capturing them and stealing their resources and populations. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the most epic sequence of the movie, as London pulls in a mining town, creating a spot-on visual symbol of colonialism. Our heroine is Hester Shaw (played by Hera Hilmar), a mysterious young woman with a horrific scar across her face. Her goal is to kill Thaddeus Valentine, London’s Head of the Guild of Historians (played by the film’s one and only famous actor, Hugo Weaving). Along the way, Hester teams up with allies such as apprentice historian, Tom Natsworthy (played by Robert Sheehan), and Anna Fang, the leader of the resistance group, the Anti-Traction League (played to perfection by Jihae Kim, see her picture at the bottom).

As I mentioned, this movie is full of overly imaginative ideas. There’s the core idea of “Municipal Darwinism,” the practice of London literally devouring smaller cities and towns, and the Anti-Traction League fighting to stop predator cities from taking up all of Earth’s remaining resources. Then there’s the London Museum, which harbors all kinds of old tech, and by “old tech,” I mean “modern technology from this era.” This movie universe refers to us as “The Screen Age,” which I think should be an official name in real life. On top of this, there’s Shrike, a reanimated corpse, kept alive by machine parts (Peter Jackson loves his zombies), played by Stephen Lang (although you’d never know it was him). That mixture of fantasy and science fiction might be off-putting or jarring to some. In the tradition of steampunk, there are air balloons and airships galore, and if that weren’t enough, there’s a giant wall known as the “Shield Wall,” which is blocking off London from Shan Guo (formerly China).

As someone who craves wildly original ideas, I can appreciate what Mortal Engines is trying to do. Giant cities on wheels, air balloon ships, and zombified machine men are not things we commonly see in movies, let alone within one film. And there’s a great deal of practical effects, including everything shown within London, down to the shops and apartment buildings. Everything looks lived in and has characterization, for better and worse; worse being these giant statues of Minions from Despicable Me being part of a museum display, because Universal Pictures released this. A best case example would be Hester and Tom walking within the humongous treadmarks left behind by London, once they escape from the city. Astonishing production design aside, the other big standout for me was Jihae as Anna Fang. This could have easily been a star making performance for her, but unfortunately, her role isn’t that big—in fact, she doesn’t appear on screen until halfway into the movie. From her look, to her airship, to her weapons, to her personality, she outshines Hester’s in spades, to the point you wish she were the movie’s main character instead! In fact, except for her facial scar, Hester is a pale comparison of a character once Anna shows up. Based on this role alone, I would love for Jihae to become a staple of all future action/adventures movies.

Where Mortal Engines really falls short is its screenplay. Given his post-LOTR career, I’m of the mind that while Peter Jackson is great at visuals, he sucks at writing. Most of the secondary characters are underwritten, some to the point of being afterthoughts. The film’s jokes and attempts at humor often fall flat, especially this one painful joke about thousand year old Twinkies, because you know, when it comes to product placement with Twinkies, you have to joke about how they never expire because of the artificial ingredients. There are also dated tropes like saying a cheesy one liner before dealing the death blow to the villain, or a hero saying something heroic before dying or performing a sacrifice. Yes, those were great staples of 80s and 90s films, but it’s 2019 now, and we’ve moved on from that, yet Jackson apparently didn’t get the memo. The subplot between Shriker and Hester, while it does provide an interesting subplot, seems slightly shoehorned into the story, and takes up time that could have been spent on more worldbuilding, or giving more screen time to Anna Fang, or it could have been an entire movie by itself. And lastly, there’s the forced romance between Hester and Tom, as the former is a rough around the edges, no nonsense warrior, and the latter is the uptight, comedic relief (which gets annoying really quickly), so of course they end up falling for each other, because… reasons. Sorry, but you can have characters who are of opposite genders without them falling in love after being in each other’s company for a day.

But as I hinted at before, the second biggest problem of the movie is its heroine, Hester. It’s not that she’s a bad character, it’s that other than her facial scar and her subplot with Shriker, there’s nothing unique about her that hasn’t been done with virtually every lead character in an adventure story since the dawn of storytelling. She’s an orphan, check. Before her mother died, she gave her an important item that is the key to defeating the villain, check. She’s a loner who doesn’t want help from others, but then softens her stance and accepts aide, check. She has familiar ties to the villain, check. We’ve seen all this a million times before, and it’s sad that in a movie with such unique concepts is undermined by such cliched character traits. That’s why Anna Fang is infinitely more interesting by comparison. She looks like nothing we’ve seen before on film, and when she only hints at her backstory, we desperately want to know more about her. Instead, she’s stuck playing second (or really, third) fiddle to an human embodiment of cliches.

Overall, while I might sound a bit harsh, I didn’t hate Mortal Engines. I love the world that it invented, but the characters that inhabit this world could have been far better than they are. Which is why I can only give the movie a solid three out of five stars. I would recommend renting it on physical disk or through on demand or streaming services. If you end up liking it, then by all means, buy it on Blu-Ray or 4K, as it will make for a great showcase movie for a home entertainment theater. That concludes this fanpicked review. And remember, when it comes to the media that you consume, be like Indiana Jones, and chose wisely.

Short Version

Pros:

• Highly creative story concepts.
• Amazing, Oscar-caliber production design and CGI (they weren’t even nominated though).
• Standout performance by Jihae Kim as Anna Fang.

Cons:

• Main character is a collection of cliched tropes, and the supporting cast is severely underwritten.
• Attempts at humor fall flat.
• Irritating product placement.

Verdict: *** (three out of five stars).