A wrinkle in
time was the second biggest box office disaster of 2018, but now we look at the
actual biggest, Mortal Engines.
Mortal
Engines the book was released in 2001 and the first of a quartet written by
Phillip Reeve. The film rights were purchased in 2009 by Peter Jackson, best
known for the fantastic Lord of the Rings trilogy and the dull as sh*t Hobbit
movies. He’s no stranger to adaptations is all I’m saying. He’s among the
writers for the screenplay along with Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, both of
whom also worked on the aforementioned trilogies.
Directing
the movie is Christian Rivers, who has experience in quite a bit of film-making,
having met Peter Jackson at 17 and worked with him on various projects. This is
his first stint as a full on director though. Not exactly encouraging for a
project with a budget of up to $150m. It really backfired, earning $83m at the
box office. And it didn’t do great with audiences, 27% rating on Rotten
Tomatoes, with an average 4.9/10 and an audience score of 50% average 3.17/5.
Before we get to adaptation, here are my brief thoughts on both.
The book
Ignoring the
premise that is ludicrously absurd, the book does a decent job of tying it to
something resembling reality… Until a moment right near the climax of the book
which is so ludicrous it takes me out of the story and into the next galaxy.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book written from a third person
perspective. It’s probably for the best since we follow so many characters in
this.
The Film
It’s a very
pretty movie, and I’m afraid that’s about as far as I can go when it comes to
compliments, I guess it’s self-contained which is something. It’s blatantly
clear that Christian Rivers’ skills aren’t in directing, as this film isn’t the
best acted. I can’t really talk too much about the plot but there are tones of
holes in it. I can see why Peter Jackson made little effort when promoting
this.
But let’s
talk adaptation
