Mortal Engines reviewed by Mark Kermode
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
- Mark Kermode reviews Mortal Engines. In a far-flung, post-apocalyptic future, where modern technology has been forgotten, enormous mobile cities travel across the world on wheels.
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Sometimes I'll watch a film that Mark likes, and enjoy it too.
Other times I'll watch a film cold, then not understand my own thoughts or feelings about it. Then I'll watch Mark's review and think "Ah yes, that's what I felt". Case in point for Mortal Engines.
Almost seven minutes of talking about how it's not a very good movie but I was still persuaded to watch it by ten seconds of Hugo Weaving being Hugo Weaving.
Was this film based on the Monty Python sketch when the Tax Office set sail . . .
The Crimson Permanent Assurance!
It’s fun to charter an accountant, and sail the wide accountancy
Maybe inverted World by Christopher Priest
Exactly what I thought. Lol
Shot entirely without CGI I heard
yes. i can verify this
I got the sense that Jackson’s team got so lost in presenting their stunning technical effects and outstanding world building that they forgot to put anything in it that the audience could really invest in and care about.
That sounds depressingly familiar!
William Palmer so like the Hobbit then. Thankfully he didn’t have the technology available to ruin Lord of the Rings.
That WW1 doc he did was good though.
I actually thought the direct opposite. The technical effects is what dissappoints me with this film, the story is what keeps it going. Though, no scene in the movie could surpass the first one.
Ivor Biggun I still think CGI has the ability to show us worlds we haven’t seen before but when it’s at the expense of narrative and audience investment it becomes an overwhelming distraction instead of serving its true purpose - to enhance the story.
When Hugo Weaving said "murder" I could only hear him saying "Mordor"
Does this take place before or after Brexit.
To me the opening felt like a metafor for Brexit. But in the way the tiny town (the UK in my analogy) was trying to get away from the big monstrosity (the EU) before it got assimilated.
This is how life is now, whilst we are part of the EU.
@@iwanebbing2642 Except that scene is London eating a Bavarian mining town.
Tired of hearing desperately unfunny people churn this same old shit out.
Funny you mentioned Ghibli. I was thinking this would have potentially been so much better as a 2d animated movie
Agreed. The covers are the books are very evocative of that kind of thing. Shame about this film, because they're genuinely great stories.
I think you’re right. I don’t think the technology is here yet. It could have been done with models and a mix of cgi.
The Crimson Permanent Assurance
I had problems with it but I can't deny that I had fun with it and found it enjoyable overall.
"Big towns hitting each other." Suns it up very accurately.
Got to agree 100% with Kermode on this one. Visually impressive - to a point. Shrike was good, the rest of the film...meh, alright I suppose.
Shame because I really liked the books as a kid, but I kind of expected disappointment from the announcement.
And it's a shame the other books wont receive adaptations as they were very interesting
Same and same. A good cut above the generic Young Adult fare that this film turned into.
The scenes with Shrike and Hester were brilliant.
Surely this will take Robin Hoodies crown as the biggest bomb of the year.
Steampunk almost never works in film
studio ghibli?? Laputa/Nausicaa/ howls moving
perhaps you mean live action film.
@@roro-mm7cc I sort of feel like Terry Gilliam could have made this work. It sort of feels like the strange vein he could tap.
Steamboy really sucked.
It's less the setting and more the writing though; writers only use the Victorian fantasy setting to tell a very shallow EMPIRE BAD story. I think something like the Bas Lag (Perdido Street Station) series would work better, with its more specific focus.
When will someone make trypods?
1:10 London on wheels? I know Brexit is controversial but this is ridiculous.🥁
[crickets]
I'll show myself out.
Spot on Weaving impression there, Mayo
"Transformers with towns" - could barely get through Transformers with Transformers so I think I’ll give this a miss.
But this is from a book no ones heard of and cares about? What could go wrong?
@@makeitsonumberone1358 ... I care :)
Really mortal at the box office.
Is there a comeback performance by the Crimson Permanent Assurance Company?
Shrike and Anna are by far the most interesting characters.
Although I wish the film expanded more on Anna's backstory in Arkangel, maybe with a flashback showing her building the Jenny and acquiring parts from Uncle (a character from the second book)
I’m glad they didn’t have the two love interests kiss at the end to force their impending relationship (whether or not there’d be a sequel), but I wish Hester’s scar was uglier and they built up everyone’s character. Maybe they needed it to be a Netflix series...
In summary, size isn't everything...
that's not what she said...
Its a shame to hear that the characters were let down a bit. Beyond the mad world - the relationships between Shrike, Hester and Tom plus all the others along the way really stayed with me.
Same with me and the trypods series, the thug and the bully turns out to be the saviour of mankind.
I saw the trailer for the movie and thought it going to be rubbish.
Wow, you`re a genius, can you tell me this weeks lottery numbers.
I saw the movie ... his prediction was spot on. Utter garbage movie. A contender for one of the most boring movies ever made.
I adored the books. Absolutely adored them. Couldn't get enough of them growing up.
This. Was. Awful. I had the same problem with this as I did with WWZ. You have this fantastic back drop that focuses on people thrown into chaotic situations that have utterly upended society. Yet they completely fail to capitalise on it.
I feel like it would be kinda hard to make WWZ a book. Would've been. A fantastic mini series tho
@@joshberkin5567, yeah no doubt. Don't get me wrong, I can sympathise with the predicament of creating a decent story. I feel that you either isolate the story to one or two individuals, so use Troy and the military as the action supplement and then, say, the people behind the Rockies. Or, as you say, adapt it into a series. Each episode looking at one aspect of the war.
Now this does present a problem in some 'chapters' being more interesting then others, of course.
To be honest, my main gripes with the film came from the silly "They can't see us when we're sick" gig and the running.
@@combatwombat2134 i havent read the books. watching the film however did give me the feeling i was watching a slightly lame film version of a good book. so many things were happening and the problem was constantly that i wasnt invested enough in the world, the characters or the plot to support the emotion the film was trying to invoke. its usually where you might take a book that would have a 20 hour audio book on audible and youre jamming its contents into 2 hours, rather than write something new that naturally develops in 2 hours. the entire thing was undercooked, i think if it was a trilogy of films there would have been the space to let the relationships and ideas develop and form attachments with the viewer.
I really enjoyed it even though the plot was cliched and the dialogue was a little basic but I totally agree that Shrike is the best thing about it. It's made me want to read the books so mission accomplished, it doesn't look like it's going to get its sequels.
Of all of the negative reviews that I have seen, this was the most fair.
Please folks, do yourselves a favour and read the books for this one. They're genuinely fantastic.
Having a Hero called Gnatsworthy in a film, spells doom. Star wars meets John carter with a dash of terminator and manages nothing but boredom.
Spot on - at times it was more like watching a series recap than a cohesive movie
i thought this was a documentary on the Fallout games
I'd recommend to everyone to read the book, its significantly better, for one thing you like the characters and the anti-traction league arent composed of 1 dimensional edgelords. They only character they did a good job with is Shrike. Not gonna lie I was so happy with how they did him.
EDIT: Plus Valentine isn't such an obvious villain nor the only villain, nor is the motivation so stupid.
I think a very accurate and fair review
The way the camera moves in that clip - it doesn't seem to have any thought about what it's looking at?
I agree! I just put my review of Mortal Engines as well sharing my thoughts! Awesome vid🤙🏼
I will be honest, the book on which the film is based, has a brilliant concept but is, at best, only averagely realised. The film is visually spectacular and has brought the book to film very well but unfortunately suffers from the same flaws as the book: the main romantic plot line is simplistic, cliched and only even vaguely credible if you have never had a relationship to judge against, Shrike is a potentially wonderful character that is inadequately developed and whose death is frankly unbelievable (survives 1000 years but is killed by a grenade, some low calibre pistols and swords), the baddy is a cartoon character.
There is a very good film lurking in the material but this is not it, but equally this is not a bad film - at least not bad at the level of A Wrinkle in Time or Valerian, it will feel a couple of hours of the holiday but there is not enough to justify a sequel
I preferred Valerian liked it very much actually but this was boring the only good character was Shrike seriously a movie about him would be awesome
Do you sometimes listen to Kermodes reviews and still come away with no greater insight into what the movie is actually about, nor any semblance of a concise review of it.....?
God-that scene is so comically funny. Oh dear God.
I had to keep on fighting back the notion that this concept of cities on wheels was ridiculous. Watched it all the way through. But disappointed in the lack of originality in the film.
yeah, the rest of the film, characters etc were not ridiculous enough to support the idea. it needed to be terry gilliam vs tim burton in a magic mushroom eating contest from start to finish in order to gel together but instead the madcap cities idea just stuck out like a sore thumb in an otherwise fairly straight up and down matrixlike sci fi delivery that took itself seriously while revolving around an idea that couldnt be taken seriously.
Having not read the book, I'd call it 'Waterworld, but on earth' crossed with way too much old Star Wars trilogy and there's a Terminator too.
I only watch kermode and Mayo for the impressions.
I'm still confused on the eating of towns are the people ground into mulch?
No, the people are either rotated into the population, taken into slavery or sold on or killed. If I recall correctly, some are eaten, but I honestly can't recall if that's true so don't take my word for it in regards to the latter. It's been a whole since I've read them.
For the most part, people are sold to slavery. They are part of the resources that a captured city/town/etc provides.
Combat Wombat gracias senor wombat now second question why does YA have such terrible ideas that kids latch onto? I read this as a kid and even I thought it was dumb
@@arlosteiner8382, I guess it comes down to what entertains the individual. I got a kick out of it, but then I guess it's horses for courses.
Combat Wombat thanks fam for the civility
@@arlosteiner8382, its all good man. You're entitled to your own opinions on things, if you didn't like it or it you don't think you'll like it, that's entirely your choice.
Has anyone used The Anti-Traction League as a band name yet?
Cannot find myself interested in this.
But if you're looking for a murderous Shrike character read the Hyperion cantos by Dan Simmons.
Absolutely adore the books, but everything I saw of the trailers completely turned me off the film. Seemed like they were trying to go for a Narnia-esque fantasy rather than the steampunk drama.
Welp, time for Heavenly Creatures II
If it ends up on the continent, how does it cross the channel?
Sounds like it'd make an awesome *Video game* adaptation, though.
Miyazaki on a bad trip is still Myazaki.
Like a live action Howls Moving Castle only with moving cities.
Oh lord, the film is terrible. I kind of thought it would be. I’ve not read the book, but after seeing this I have absolutely no desire to do so.
Thank goodness the film has absolutely bombed and no more of these films will be made.
This wasn't a movie, it was a $150 million drinking game for cliche stock phrases.
That said, the first chase was excellent and worth the price of admission.
6:21 That's what she said.
I haven't seen it yet but I think it's great. Then again I'm not an intellectual.
The final act is just Steampunk Star Wars
This reminds me of a Frankie Boyle joke from MTW about ten years ago.
Yeah he pinched the idea from the book.
i'd like to see London on wheels eating stratford on avon or something... i think it needs animation not film
So basically Waterworld on land? And will flop like it did also I am guessing.
Gr8 film. Really enjoyed this.
The bits with Shrike in were good, though they killed him off in the most pathetic way (...stupid film Anna fang was rubbish) and that was it...
But the books were filled with bits like that, small bits full of emotion that really get you to care about the characters.
The dialogue and characterizations in the film were the worse part. Tom is turned into mother teresa, crossed with the star wars rebels, rather than the nieve boy who has to grow up fast and learns the hard truths of the world outside london.
Hester is an all out heroine from the get go, not the deeply scarred (both physically and mentally) girl of the books.
And Valentine is a villain straight out of a pantomime, not the morally ambiguous character of the books.
Anna fang is some sort of kick-ass warrior, not a sky trader who turns out to be a spy who basically adopts tom and hester.
When there are already such well written characters, and a really well developed plot, why change all that for the film?
Not bad but with the changes they made they are going to have real problems with the second book when they come to make it
Transformers with towns? OOOF.
It looked so all over the place I didn't bother. It looked like a big version of robot wars.this will tank.
I didn't even mean that,as a pun lol
Are you talking about Full Moon's Robot Wars?
The second most yawn inducing movie I’ve seen this year; the title goes to ‘Solo’.
I disliked most of the characters (hated Tom) because of how shallow and generic they were, but I found myself getting a bit more interested with the plot later on because the characters took a back seat to the spectacles. But overall I was horribly bored.
Looks a lot like a Monty Python film, but without the funny or the clever.
If your characters are cartoony, make it anime. Look at Samurai 7 for example, making it live action wouldn't have worked as well.
Rambles on a bit
Actually, rambles on a lot
Feeble the key word!
I liked the book. Disappointed by the film.
Steampunk Star Wars
we loved the film
This is a movie about colonialism.
The general reviews are not good, I definitely will not give it a chance.
Classic Jackson- sounds bloody awful.
wished i caught this review before watching it.
a terrible movie that i slept through parts of - just so messy trying to do or fit everything in the film.
Really all that needs to be said is that it's like a lot of LOTR and all of The Hobbit; grossly overblown and deeply dissatisfying. Thank you, Peter Jackson. Next!
N+1th
I was bored of the review, so...
I couldn't finish the books (gave up in boredom a bit through book 4), they are way too childish/YA, the initial premise is great but after that its 4 books that just repeat themselves with the main characters seemingly learning nothing. Sounds like the movie suffers from the same thing
Wow, you denied yourself a terrific ending there.
I enjoyed the first book a lot, but couldn't make it through book 2. There was this whole romance subplot that I thought was a bit too corny.
It's interesting Philip Reeve originally imagined the book as adult fiction but couldn't sell it to the publishers unless it was marketed as YA, so he aged down the characters and reworked some of the more mature elements
Comparing this garbage tip to Transformers does a disservice to Transformers. This movie is straight trash!!!
It's so awful
mmmmm does not sound wonderful!
First
The book is NOT brilliant 🧐
Yes it is
The most ridiculously stupid concept for a film ever. Sounds like a dodgy B-movie version of Mad Max. How does dross like this get made? Oh yeah, lack of writing talent in Hollywood. That's why.
Howls Moving Castle: Fury Road
@@roro-mm7cc Haha brilliant!