• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Event Calendar
    • Submit Event
  • About Us
    • Our Contributors
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Arts & Entertainment
    • Comedy
    • On Screen Dayton
    • On Screen Dayton Reviews
    • Road Trippin’
      • Cincinnati
      • Columbus
      • Indianapolis
    • Spectator Sports
    • Street-Level Art
    • Visual Arts
  • Dayton Dining
    • DMM’s Brunch Guide
    • Restaurants with Private Dining Rooms
    • Dayton Food Trucks
    • Quest
    • Ten Questions
  • Dayton Music
    • Music Calendar
  • On Stage Dayton
    • On Stage Dayton Reviews
  • Active Living
    • Canoeing/Kayaking
    • Cycling
    • Hiking/Backpacking
    • Runners
  • How to Support Dayton Businesses, Nonprofits During COVID-19

Dayton Most Metro

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

McCoy on Movies: Mortal Engines

December 12, 2018 By Lisa Grigsby

Mortal Engines runs out of steam before it reaches its dystopian future finish line.

“Hold on tight, everybody … There’s a movie plot ahead of us to finish!” Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan, left) and Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) look on as Anna Fang (Jihae) drives in a scene from MORTAL ENGINES, directed by Christian Rivers, and written by Fran Walsh, Phillpa Boyens and Peter Jackson (based on the novel by Philip Reeve). Credit: Mark Pokorny / Universal Pictures and MRC. © 2018 Universal Pictures. All rights reserved.



WATCH THE TRAILER(S) HERE:


 


 



KEY CAST MEMBERS: Hera Hilmer, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Robert Sheehan, Lelia George, Patrick Malahide, Ronan Raftery and Stephen Lang as Shrike


DIRECTOR(S): Christian Rivers

WEB SITE: http://mortalengines.comTHE BACK STORY: Based on the series of books by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines is set in a dystopian future where humans have, once again, scorched the earth (which apparently has suffered from massive land shifting, possibly due to earthquakes), leaving little in the way of resources. And town and cities have become rolling landmasses on wheels fighting for them.


That’s right. Cities. Are. Now. On. Wheels. Rollin’ – and the big ones like London led by Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) devour every city in their path.


But while Thaddeus’ daughter Katherine (Leila George) and local museum worker Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) look up to Thaddeus Valentine, Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmer) knows the truth – and the scar she has across her face is one of the reminders she has of Valentine’s truly devious nature. Which is why she is determined to stop him at any cost before he tries to take down the Shield Wall, housing Anti-Traction League, a.k.a. the groups of people like Anna Fang (Jihae) that wish to stop London (and anything like it) from taking over the rest of the new world.


The only question is whether or not their efforts will be too late since Valentine’s search for “old tech” is nearly complete …

THE REVIEW: Ever seen a movie that, like a song on the radio, hits all the familiar beats to make it a hit but lacks anything distinct about it to make you remember it? If you’d like the cinematic equivalent of that all-too-familiar feeling, Mortal Engines is like that unnamed band mentioned in the previous sentence.While you can tell its talented lead singer – in this case, the angsty Hilmer – is doing all she can to let the music play while the label tries its hardest to prop up her pretty but not up to the same level of skill co-star (Sheehan) while the co-stars (Jihae) look the part. But when you play listen closely, their lyrics – in this case, Mortal Engines’ inane dialogue/bad one liners – just fail to move you. And while your best friend might make a compelling case (Stephen Lang’s performance as the robotic Shrike is a scene stealer, the rolling cities are cool to watch on screen), you’ll keep pointing out other elements (Weaving’s villain is a poor man’s Star Wars’ baddie, almost every scene feels predictable and a rip-off of a better movie) that just leave you thinking this band is all style over substance. 


If you’re a fan of regular top 40 music, you’ll likely find Mortal Engines to be an enjoyable-enough diversion from constant debates about whether a song from the 1940s no longer fits on modern radio or the type of person who posts on Facebook about you wish you could get away from all the negativity you see everyday. But guess what? That’s not gonna stop people from talking about either of those things – and Mortal Engines, bless its cast’s and crew’s collective hearts, isn’t gonna stop making most people wish it just didn’t seem so familiar.


For it’s the little cinematic engine that could have been better.

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):

 

Filed Under: On Screen Dayton, The Featured Articles Tagged With: Mortal Engines

About Lisa Grigsby

Lisa Grigsby is a Special Events Director with over thirty years experience in promotions, event coordination and public relations.

Owning Jokers Comedy Cafe for 20 years taught Lisa to maintain a sense of humor under pressure. She credits Leadership Dayton for exposing her to the amazing assets of the region and Clothes That Work for being her reason she stayed in Dayton. Her proudest accomplishment as a past president of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association was creating Restaurant Week, a twice a year tradition that continues to grow and benefit local charities as well. As a foodie, it's only natural that she continues to promote local restaurateurs with DaytonDining.

As a Dayton Catalyst, her desire to have ONE community calendar and advocate for the amazing assets of the region helped create the vision for the relaunch of DaytonMostMetro.


Comments

Comments

Primary Sidebar

Featured Events

  • Sun
    24
  • Mon
    25
  • Tue
    26
  • Wed
    27
  • Thu
    28
  • Fri
    29
  • Sat
    30

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

DLM Virtual Class! Sunday Supper Chicken & Dumplings

5:00 pm | ZOOM

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

25% off Pizza Monday

11:30 am | Oregon Express

Charucterie Class

6:00 pm | AR Workshop

Open Mic Monday

6:30 pm | The Barrel

Cinematic Conversations at Home

7:00 pm | online event

Community Action Meeting: Actions For Anti-Racism

7:00 pm |

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

Conversation with Airstream

10:00 am | Virtual Event

Spaghetti Tuesday

5:00 pm | The Trolley Stop

Burger Night

5:00 pm | Watermark

Jazz with Gail and Larry

5:00 pm | Spirited Goat Coffee House

Skyline Chili Fundraiser

5:00 pm | Skyline Chili

Tuesday Trivia

7:00 pm | The Dublin Pub

JCRC Community Conversation: Food Insecurity in Dayton

7:00 pm | ZOOM

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

Women 4 Technology: Meaningful Mentoring

11:30 am | Virtual Event

Beginning Cake Decorating

6:00 pm | online event

Trivia w/ DagaTrivia

6:00 pm | Eudora Brewing Company

Write It Like You Mean It

6:30 pm | ZOOM

Masthead Brewing Beer Tasting

6:30 pm | The Caroline

Wednesday Trivia

6:30 pm | Troll Pub at the Wheelhouse

Open Mic with Blues Breakdown Band

7:00 pm | Hank’s Local

Gem City Market Walking Warriors

7:00 pm | Gem City Market

Wednesday Night Trivia w/ Dan Profitt

7:00 pm | Oinkadoodlemoo & Brew

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

Johnnie Walker Seminar + Dinner

6:00 pm | Salar

Beginning Beekeeping Virtual Class

7:00 pm | ZOOM

Dayton Literary Peace Prize Virtual Book Club

7:00 pm | Virtual Event

Bingo

8:00 pm | Trolley Stop

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

Latin Dance Party

5:30 pm | The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Route 88 Full Band

6:00 pm | Wings Sports Bar and Grille- Dixie

Heath Bowling Live

6:30 pm | Heroes Pizza House

Full Wolf Moon Hike

7:00 pm | Glen Helen

Winter Restaurant Week

| tba

Young’s annual “Do Your Moo” Event

| Young’s Jersey Dairy

RiverScape Virtual Winter Yoga

9:30 am |

Introducing…Carole Staples and Fiber Arts

10:00 am | 621519

St. Vincent DePaul – Emmanuel Fish or Sausage Dinner Carryout

5:00 pm | Bainbridge Hall

A Virtual tour of the Grand Canyon National Park

5:00 pm | Facebook Live

TRUK

6:00 pm | The Phone Booth Lounge

More Events…

DMM E-Newsletter


Give us your email address and we'll send you our DMM E-Newsletters
Email:  
For Email Marketing you can trust
Back to Top

Copyright © 2021 Dayton Most Metro · Terms & Conditions · Log in