What It Is: A post-apocalyptic movie based on the novel of the same name from Philip Reeve. The movie takes place over 1000 years from now in a time where cities are motorized and on wheels so they can prey on each other in a dystopian wasteland. The story revolves around Hester Shaw played by Hera Hilmar and her quest for revenge against Thaddeus Valentine played by Hugo Weaving. While Thaddeus seeks to create a weapon that can destroy cities in an instant with a goal of destroying the Anti-Traction League who have a goal of setting up cities that are non-moving in what was Asia. What We Think: The movie is visually stunning (as one would expect from a blockbuster that Peter Jackson produced and co-wrote the screenplay for). The movie runs just over 2 hours which is just right, however some parts of the movie seemed to drag a bit. A majority of the movie is set in the city of London and showcases a few of the famous landmarks there including St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Eye. The movie starts out fast with an awesome chase scene involving London and a smaller city named Salthook, but slows down quite a bit after that until the final climatic battle scene. There were a couple of laughs early on in the movie when old relics are shown including iPhones, Sunbeam Toaster, and life size statues of the Minions from DESPICABLE ME. Hugo Weaving played an excellent villain, and the main heroes of the movie including Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, as well as the leader of the Anti-Traction League, Jihae all did excellent in my opinion….but not well enough to save the movie. I wasn’t the only one in the early screening who thought the movie had a lot of similarities to STAR WARS, I won’t go into details due to spoilers but feel free to message me for details. If not for so many similarities to Star Wars, I would have given this one a higher rating, but that being said my rating is mostly for the terrific visuals and the chase and battle scenes that sandwich a otherwise unmemorable movie. Our Grade:2.5/5
