Mortal Engines is what you get when you mix Mad Max: Fury Road with YA Fiction.
Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is taking his time when it comes to his follow up of The Hobbit. After the diminishing quality of those films maybe he was in need of some recharge time. Mortal Engines is not necessarily his next directing effort since he is the producer of the film, but his name is all over it.
The Universal Pictures film is based on the YA fantasy epic series by Philip Reeve. Mortal Engines has a script written by the Lord of the Rings team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, but it is Christian Rivers who takes the directors chair on this one. He worked behind the scenes with Jackson on his previous efforts, but now Mortal Engines marks his directorial debut.
The first trailer doesn’t really introduce us to any main characters, but we do see the concept revealed. All of Earth’s cities are now on wheels, traveling around the world instead of staying in one place. London is shown literally eating another city. It certainly gives off the vibe of a Mad Max: Fury Road type of world, but with the trappings of young adult stories. It’s very much a teaser of what to expect since outside revealing some of the technology involved and some expensive special effects there isn’t much more to write home about. The novels were written in the early-2000s and have gained quite the following since their release. This was one of the most anticipated trailers that made its debut in front of Star Wars: The Last Jedi this past weekend.
Here is the official synopsis for Mortal Engines:
Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.
Mortal Engines opens on December 18th, 2018.
Related Topics: Mortal Engines, Peter Jackson, Trailers
