A Geeky Viewpoint

Never have I wanted to like a movie as badly as I wanted to like Mortal Engines. Movies like Kingdom of Heaven, Gods and Generals and the recent entry in the Wizarding World Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald comes to mind as movies I wanted to like but left the theater wishing they were better.   Mortal Engines is clearly further down that path. 

The first 25 minutes of the film is awe inspiring, it is as gripping as the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan.  I was sitting on the edge of my seat wanting more.  Than the movie fell off its tracks slogged along and as a viewer I felt like I was getting gut punched for the next hour and half.

Mortal Engines is an adaptation of the first in a series of Young Adult novels by Philip Reeve of the same name.  Set in a post apocalyptic world hundreds of years after a "Sixty Minute War" that decimated the world and inhabitants causing great geologic upheaval and other disasters.  The film focuses on the story of two young antagonists who attempt to expose a conspiracy in the great traction city of London.  Our two antagonists, Hester Shaw and Tom Natsworthy, are portrayed by two relativity unknown actors Hera Hilar and Robert Sheehan.  Other notable cast members include Hugo Weaving as the protagonist Thaddeus Valentine, Jihae as Anna Fang and Stephen Lang as Shrike, the undead warrior.

There will be discussion as to why this film fails, to which there are numerous culpable issues.
Produced and written by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh with writing assistance from Phillipa Boyens the production company has a pretty spectacular resume, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and four other Oscar nominations over the years.  
Directed by Christian Rivers who is making his directorial debut after years of assisting Peter Jackson on almost everyone of his projects for three decades.   Many will question whether he was ready to be the primary voice behind the camera.
To me the biggest problem with this film was the script.  It was bad in every way that the Lord of the Rings was good.  We were given no time to appreciate our two antagonist and it turned a very good character actor, Hugo Weaving, into a boring, one trick, predictable villain.   There were no surprises and everything you expect to happen, happened. 

In the end a promising premise is left crushed in the dust by the massive weight of the bad script and poor direction/acting. 

One Star (only for the the first 25 minutes of the film) out of Five Stars.

Aquaman is a movie that's meant to be old fashion fun, and I understand why a segment of the people who see this movie will feel that way, I am not in that crowd however.   A wisecracking, fish out of water story, starring Jason Momoa in the title role of  Arthur Curry, the Aquaman.   Guided by Princess Mera, portrayed by Amber Heard, Arthur travels to the lost city of Atlantis to begin his journey to find the lost Trident of King Atlan in an attempt to unite the peoples of the seven Kingdoms to stop them from uniting to make war upon the surface.

It sounds like a great comic book story arc, its just not a good movie.  At two hours and twenty three minutes the film is too long for the story they are trying to tell and not long enough for the story they wanted to tell.  At least three times I was so bored and unimmersed in the film that I had to fight off the urge to look at my watch, and I wasn't the only one in the theater suffering from the same compulsion.  When you look around and people are looking at their phones attempt to gauge how much longer they need to watch the film, it is not a good sign.

I enjoyed the interactions between Arthur and Mera, the had good chemistry, but many of the characters were one trick wooden ponies and their acting is difficult to watch.  Willem Defoe as the Grand Vizier,Nuidis Vulko, counselor to King Orm (Patrick Wilson) was almost painful almost as if he was simply reading his lines for the first and only time.   Neither antagonist King Orm, who is Arthur Curry half-brother by his mother Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidmen) nor Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) are given the opportunity to truly appear as Aquaman "equal" or capable of defeating him.

As my son put walking out of the theater Aquaman is simply a bad retelling of the first Star Wars film, with Arthur Curry talking the place of both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Mera talking the place of Princess Leia and Vulko is Obiwan Kanobi.  Throw in King Orm's Elite Guards as Stormtroopers incapable of hitting any target with their blaster and I think it is a right assessment.  Except the story, acting and VX is no where near as good.

The VX looked half completed.  There are some spectacular shots, moving through the City of Atlantis is an example of beautiful work, but there are dozens of other VX shots that look half rendered, unbelievable.   The scenes depicting the violent sea were incredibly bad.   It is the same problem that has plagued many of the DC Extended Universe films.

I enjoyed the score and the soundtrack to the film.  The work of Rupert Gregson-Williams the score is a clear bright spot in the film.   Gregson-Williams also did the score Wonder Woman another DCEU film.   

In the final battle between Aquaman and King Orm, when King Orm was defeated, you could almost hear a pin drop in my theater, except for the one five year old who was clapping, I think everyone was supposed to be clapping or cheering when that happened, but no one was invested enough in the  film for that to actually happen.

I think there is a segment of people who will truly enjoy this film, even suggest that it is the rebirth of the DCEU into a better form, not that would take much after Batman v. Superman or Justice League.  As I said earlier I am not in that crowd.   I would have preferred that they either added the story to make this two films or shaved the story to make this a two hour film, both ideas would have been an improvement.   Even though I enjoyed the chemistry between Jason Momoa and Amber Heard as the protagonists, the poor script, wooden acting and seeming unfinished VX dragged this movie to the bottom.