Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 9, 2019

Mortal Engines' story -- on and off the screen -- isn't at all dissimilar from so many other recent films. It's based on a book, this one written by Philip Reeve, first published in 2001. The story concerns characters fighting for survival in a nearly dead Steampunk-inspired dystopian post-apocalyptic future, a world where man long ago nearly wiped himself out, leaving behind only a handful of survivors. The hook for this one centers around mobile cities that are like sand crawlers from Star Wars but on a humongous scale, powered by steam engines and the largest of them big enough to be considered thriving metropolises. The primary story concerns a young woman out for revenge against a man who killed her mother and who may be plotting to destroy humanity all over again. It's very basic stuff, and the only thing that's groundbreaking here comes in how the cities break apart whatever ground they drive through and atop, leaving practically unscalable, many-feet-deep tire tracks in their wake.

Many years ago the ”ancients” engaged in a great war that in only sixty minutes brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Those who did not perish created mobile settlements in an effort to survive on a dying Earth. The strong wiped out the weak and thrived in their victories. Now, it is the age of the predator cities. The largest amongst them -- London -- chase down and absorb the lesser, taking in the displaced populations and using the conquered machines for their own gain. London’s Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), the city’s Head of the Guild of Historians, believes “Muniucipal Darwinism” is a dying tactic and has turned to the ancients -- the same ancients who nearly wiped out humanity -- to find an old answer to this new world’s problems. When London absorbs a small city called “Salzhaken,” Valentine finds himself in one of its inhabitants’ crosshairs. Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) has lived her entire adult life looking for him in order to exact revenge for her mother’s death. A failed assassination attempt winds up with Shaw on the run, paired with a young historian named Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) and allied with the mysterious Anna Fang (Jihae) as they fight against London -- and their own pasts -- as part of the rebellious Anti-Traction League.

Mortal Engines can't shake a feeling of familiarity despite its grand visions of the fantastic. Where the film finds its problem is that while its vision of the fantastic may be exclusive to it, audiences can only see so many films with their own take on the "fantastic" before it all begins to feel stale, to run together, particularly in this current wave of post-apocalyptic survival tales that have taken the YA Lit and event-effects PG-13 movie worlds by storm. And that's the story with this one. While the film is competently put together and boasts a seamless blend of practical and CGI visuals, the film does nothing to differentiate itself beyond the outward appearance. Characters are stock, conflict is contrived, and the movie barely elevates to a workable, watchable level. The film banks on awing its audience through the scope and scale of its action scenes, the best of which comes right out of the gate when "London" absorbs the much smaller Salzhaken. It's all downhill from there. No plot reveal, no character intro, no action, no drama can lead the film to anything of memorable relevance. It's a cut-and-dry experience that was certainly made with care for its outward appearances but with little concern for its human interest center.

The movie's best performances com from its digital constructs. The big, mobile cities -- particularly London but also the smaller habitations, too -- are intricately designed with countless moving parts that all seem to play some purpose. The designs are impressively ingenious, and while they're wholly impractical and must be a nightmare to maintain, they make for both an interesting and imposing screen presence, particularly in action and maneuvering at high speed during various chase sequences. Unfortunately, the human cast of characters are soulless from the top-down. There's precious little of narrative interest or compelling human drama in any of their stories, even in the protagonist-antagonist angle. The Stalker Shrike, played by Stephen Lang and clearly modeled after The Terminator, is the film's most compelling character for its look, its backstory, and its place in the film's present-day as a relentless pursuer. It's more than a little ironic and more than little telling that the film's best characterization and most interesting components are more technological than human: the Stalker and the Traction Cities.

Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

The differences between the 1080p Blu-ray and this native 4K (shot at 8K) 2160p/Dolby Vision-enhanced UHD release are immediately obvious and fairly startling. The UHD appears magnitudes sharper, offering one of the most drastic improvements to overall image clarity and detail over the standard Blu-ray yet, and that's even considering that the Blu-ray is terrific in its own right and was awarded five stars for its image transfer quality. The UHD's image is remarkably efficient, boasting some of the most rawly razor-sharp details the format has yet seen. Intimate character close-ups are superb, revealing a level of definition and detail that is rare even on this format. A slave trader seen at the 52-minute mark is a great example. He wears a coat made of buttons, on each of which are distinct, individual details of wear and tear, some more significant than others. The pores, the hair, the beard, the teeth, the level of clarity at which the character is revealed is undeniably striking. Two close-ups featuring Hester Shaw are of note, too. The first, seen at the 17:44 mark, reveals the UHD's improvements to skin clarity, intimate definition, and overall sharpness of not just skin but individual eyelashes and eyebrows, not to mention the texture on the bandana and the individual strands of hairs on her head. Another example comes at the 43:48 mark where the depth of the character's facial scars and skin blemish clarity are off-the-charts. The shot is also a good point of reference for the Dolby Vision color grading, which can leave some skin tones appearing more pasty in certain scenes but also increasing brightness while adding depth and brilliance to points of color like Hester's blue eyes and red lips.

Color depth overall is much improved, and skin tones, generally, are very healthy and full. There's a significant add to range and nuance across the board. Contrast is boosted quite a bit, almost to the point that the image borders on looking like a cartoon in a couple of places, including Hester's intro scene where the red bandana's color is so deep and the contrasting skin so pasty that despite the obvious add in color depth and textural resolution the character looks almost entirely artificial. Fortunately such extremes are rare. For the most part, the vast increases in both color saturation and textural depth -- even on digital constructs and machinery close-ups that reveal wear and tear with exponentially more detail -- make the image a remarkable UHD specimen. Fang's red attire and and airship and Shrike's green eyes are also amongst the standouts for intensity and luminance, the latter in particular against some darker backdrops. Black level depth and density are also improved over the Blu-ray. Noise is kept to a bare minimum and no other source or encode flaws are apparent. This is a new reference quality UHD release from Universal.

Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mortal Engines steams onto Blu-ray with an immersive and active Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The presentation is relentlessly surround heavy, making use of both the four back channels as well as the overhead speakers to pull the listener into the film's steampunk world of oversized machinery. Whether large-scale action scenes in which London absorbs smaller cities and aircraft zip about or less dramatic but no less sonically enticing moments when PA announcements direct new London arrivals with a well defined and seamlessly integrated overhead component, the track's sonic activity is always largely spaced and capable of drawing the listener into the world. The only downside is a relative absence of intense low end dynamics. One would expect more power and depth to the heavy machinery sounds and various examples of gunfire. More activity at the low end would have elevated this track to five-star status. Dialogue presents clearly and distinctly from a natural front-center position.

Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mortal Engines contains five featurettes, two of which break down into sub-features, and a commentary track, all on the included Blu-ray. The UHD disc brings over two of the extras: Welcome to London (2160p/SDR, 26:22 total runtime) and the commentary track. Below is a review of all extras as they appear on the Blu-ray. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• End of the Ancients (1080p, 3:13): A museum tour piece that fills in a little post-apocalyptic "history."
• Character Series (1080p): Brief introductions to several of the film's main characters, built through interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips from the film. Included are Hester Shaw (4:41), Tom Natsworthy (4:13), Anna Fang (4:26), Thaddeus Valentine (3:29), and Shrike (4:53).
• Welcome to London (1080p): A five-part feature that explores "London" in greater detail, primarily focused on constructing the world for the film. Included are Building the Beast (5:08), Levels of London (5:19), The Smallest Details (4:20), London Museum (5:19), and Medusa and St. Paul's (6:11). The supplement is hosted by Actor Robert Sheehan, who portrays Tom Natsworthy in the film.
• In the Air (1080p, 4:52): A closer look at the airborne cities and the role of flying vehicles in the film, with emphasis on design and utilization in the film.
• Film New Zealand (1080p, 3:52): Cast and crew talk up the benefits of shooting in New Zealand.
• Audio Commentary: Director Christian Rivers discusses the film's key points, including story elements, production details, cast and characters, and more. It's a well spoken track, fairly straightforward and without much emotion, but it is informative and flows fairly well.

Mortal Engines 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mortal Engines flourishes in its opening chase but runs into trouble once it introduces things like its characters and plot. The movie is technically fine, but long gone are the days when spectacle and scope alone can carry a film, if those day really ever existed at all. The film is far from a train wreck, but it's also not the franchise-starter the filmmakers and studios certainly envisioned it to be. Poor box office returns and uninspiring critical reviews may have stopped these Engines in their tracks. Universal's UHD offers reference quality video, an active Atmos soundtrack, and several extras. Recommended.