Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
2017
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Dec 14, 2018 · Mortal Engines has no shortage of eye-catching special effects, but lacks enough high-octane narrative fuel to give this futuristic fantasy sufficient cinematic combustion. Read Critics...
- (190)
- Christian Rivers
- PG-13
- Hera Hilmar
On that town is Hester Shaw ( Hera Hilmar ), a teenage girl looking to take revenge on London’s power engineer (or something) Thaddeus Valentine for killing her mom.
Mortal Engines is a lifeless fantasy epic that is mildly enjoyable at times, but suffers from several grave afflictions that ultimately incur steep viewing consequences. Full Review | Jan 29,...
- This steampunk epic, which often feels like an over-sized Fury Road on steroids, has great world-building but an underwhelming story.
- Verdict
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
By Rafael Motamayor
Updated: Mar 12, 2021 3:02 am
Posted: Dec 13, 2018 7:55 pm
Mortal Engines is the big-budget live-action steampunk movie fans of that subgenre have always wanted, complete with stunning visuals and top-notch world-building. Christian Rivers makes his directorial debut after working in visual effects with frequent collaborators (and co-writers and co-producers) Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens and delivers the kind of ambitious blockbuster we haven’t seen in years.
Mortal Engines is so eager to show you what it’s got, that the film starts while the Universal logo is still on screen, as we see purple-hued bombs that start going off in various locations on the famous globe on the logo. Visually and scale-wise, this is an oversized Fury Road on steroids. Based on the novels by Philip Reeve, we start with two literal cities chasing each other, spitting up smoke and dirt as the wheeled monstrosities make their slow way across a vast and desolated European countryside. London shoots massive harpoons at the smaller city, while teeny tiny trees are decimated beneath the giant wheels of the metropolis. As if the visual connections to the Wasteland of Max Rockatansky weren’t enough, I wouldn’t blame you for expecting to see Furiosa after listening to Junkie XL’s grandiose score here.
After a short but intense opening chase, we meet Tom Natsworthy, a historian-in-training who gets overcome with joy whenever he finds an artifact from the ancient world like a cracked iPhone. Robert Sheehan plays this typical YA-franchise naïve guy who yearns to see the world and become a warrior, and is suddenly very skilled in combat with no build-up. Tom’s work gets the attention of the powerful Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), who doesn’t even try to hide how evil he is, or his complete lack of motivation.
Mortal Engines may have come about 15 years too late, as it feels like a blockbuster straight out of the early ‘00s before the YA craze saturated the market and then petered out. In 2018 it feels like too little, too late, with a storyline populated with largely uninteresting characters that’s been done so often now that it feels dull. What saves t...
IGN's Rafael Motamayor reviews Mortal Engines, a live-action steampunk movie based on Philip Reeve's novels. He praises the stunning visuals and world-building, but criticizes the paper-thin characters and the unoriginal plot.
Dec 13, 2018 · “Mortal Engines” takes place after the “Sixty Minute War” has brought humanity to the brink, and the world’s metropolises have escaped from their locations.
- Christian Rivers
Dec 14, 2018 · Mortal Engines: Directed by Christian Rivers. With Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae. In a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive, two people meet in London and try to stop a conspiracy.
Dec 14, 2018 · Mortal Engines really is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent slog, as characters leap unfeasibly out of planes on to bits of cities while a squad of rebel-fighter pilots straight out of Star Wars buzz around.
