Review of 'Mortal Engines'

I saw the trailer for this while standing in the foyer of the O2 cinema in Finchley Road on some sort of kiosk display thing, and wanted to see the film...I expected it would be a bit overblown but - from the trailer - visually exciting. I'd read the first book to Louis when he was little and was interested to see how they'd been realised.

Well, the film never seemed to turn up. It was released, flopped, and never seen again. Last week I wondered about what had happened, obtained a copy via informal distribution (with Korean subtitles, hardcoded) and watched it.

It was actually much better than expected - the look was great, and the acting and dialogue wasn't all that dire. Curiously I couldn't recall the plot at all from the book, but I read a synopsis later and it was quite faithful. A bit on the long side, and one or two rather Star-Wars moments, but quite watchable. Too bad there won't be a sequel.