Clearly taking inspiration from “Star Wars”, “Mortal Engines” tries to create an immersive sci-fi/fantasy world. It was produced by Peter Jackson, famous for his “Lord of the Rings” movies and his 2005 remake of “King Kong”. “Mortal Engines” has received mixed reviews and I’m surprised because it’s a lot better than other recent sci-fi movies such as “The Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”.

Set in the distant future, “Mortal Engines” shows a world where large mobile cities roam what’s left of the planet as they scavenge for resources and consume smaller mobile towns and villages. Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving “The Matrix”, “Captain America: The First Avenger”) hopes to lead the mobile city of London to victory over the anti-tractionists, who live behind a fortified wall.

Although Hugo Weaving does a good job as the villain, the other characters are pretty disappointing. We have completely forgettable protagonists such as Hester (Hera Hilmar “Anna Karenina”) and Tom (Robert Sheehan). There’s also a cyborg that looks so much like the Terminator that it would not be surprised if a court case came about. The characters really are the weakest aspect of this film and that’s a shame. Movies such as “Star Wars”, “Blade Runner”, “Alien” all have great characters that help make visiting their unique worlds more interesting.

“Mortal Engines” features some exhilarating special effects and some very impressive world-building. The steampunk aesthetic is just great here. I would have preferred it if it had better characters and if it stole less plot elements from the original “Star Wars”. I love the concept of the giant mobile cities battling one another and I would have enjoyed if more of the run-time had been dedicated to showing that. What is on offer here is definitely superior to “The Maze Runner” and “The Hunger Games”. It’s disappointing we probably will not see a sequel to “Mortal Engines” because there’s plenty of steam still left in this machine.