Since this is the first one there are some details that I forgot to put in the introduction. I am a big fan of stories, good, bad and ugly as long as it is compelling, well or if there is action or comedy I forgive a plot that is lacking as long as it is consistent. I also think that all movies have some good qualities so for the most part I am going to try and talk positive about the movie and leave the negativity to other people. Don't expect a Last Jedi retro review, though.
About a year ago I got movie pass and was reintroduced to the big screen going as often as my schedule allowed but as many as you know movie pass did not last but I moved over to AMC A-list and 3 movies a week is about my limit. That being said I go to a lot of movies I would have never went to see if I was paying per ticket. I highly recommend getting A-list if you have spare time and love movies or stories.
All that being said the other day I went to see the blockbuster flop Mortal Engines and well I found it a bit confusing. The movie had two clear goals. It wanted to tell the story but it also wanted to start to world build and it really needed to do a lot of building. The way it went about this was show not tell. It throws you right into a chase where London a predator city is chasing down a smaller city to consume it. It should have taken a few more minutes in the beginning of the movie to provide some necessary exposition, that way the audience is not sitting there trying to figure out why London is about to eat a mining town. This is not a property like spider man where 99% of the audience already knows the origin story. (Into the spider-verse did a lot better job of world building)
The other issue I had with the movie is that it was hard to know what the motivation was for the characters actions. Ester Shaw wants rearrange, that is clear motivation. The reason the rest of the characters are doing what there are doing is unclear. Tom falls in love with Ester in about 5, maybe 10 minutes of knowing her, that is the only way I can explain his behavior. There is not much explanation about what Valentine does except he is the bad go so he does bad things.
Who the antitraxers are is not explained at all. All we know is that there are enemies of London and Anna is there leader. Talking about Anna, I felt that she was a cool character and acted in the way that Obi Wan would have if a new hope was done during his physical prime. She is a strong fighter who is just smarter than the nameless goons she is fighting. Her motivation for why she hates London is unclear as there was no reason London was a threat until crossing the land bridge which happens in the beginning of the movie when she is already the most wanted. We might not know why she is doing what she is going but she looks like a bad ass doing it.
The positives of the movie. Hmm, well visually it is engulfing. The scale of London, is impressive. They let you know that London is a power that is not to be messed with. The action scenes are well paced and fun even if there is the common mistake of several people trying to fight a common enemy one on one watching the other lose before attacking. Maybe a group attack would ruin the visual of the scene but it is an issue with the fights in the movie.
Overall, I think that if I went to see the movie again I would find it more enjoyable as I would have a better understanding of what is going on. The world building over took the plot in terms of importance at times. It felt like there was an idea that if it looks cool people will watch it, instead of focusing on the story. There are enjoyable parts of the movie and is something that if it is on TV on a raining Saturday afternoon I could see myself watching. I am glad that I didn't have to spend full price on a ticket for the movie.
3 out of 5 stars, extra points for being the first review for the blog.
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