Mortal Engines

It's got an interesting look, but it's a bloated story.

it's sorta the young adult version of The Road Warrior and Mad Max. A world full of crazy engines and and stories and cities that are moving around. It feels very derivative.

They want to give you a steampunk-on-steroids Metropocalypse Now! And they're willing to use the spare parts of dozens of other movies to make it happen.

This should've been amazing. Even the ending owes itself to another film...it feels like a bunch of movies we've seen before, that are better than this.

Mortal Engines is pathologically wedded to its steampunk aesthetic. Often it feels like being battered half to death with a copy of Cherie Priest's Boneshaker.

Visually, it's busy, hefty and propulsive, but emotionally and thematically, it's as light as air. These engines could have used a bit more in the tank.

It's actually a little bit more soulful than it lets on.

It's a beautifully designed world but no real life exists within it.

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.

Once we dive into the players and the events that have shaped them, Mortal Engines is undeniably derivative of countless Hero's Journey-based stories and hopelessly lacking in creative energy.