Science Fiction

Mortal Engines

  • Title: Mortal Engines
  • IMDb: link

Mortal Engines Blu-ray reviewBased on the sci-fi novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines is yet another post-apocalyptic teen flick with class warfare themes. Years after war devastated the Earth, people now live in traveling cities which are often the prey for even larger traveling cities which consume materials to keep them moving. It’s in the largest of these where we meet museum curator Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) who saves the life of the city’s leader (Hugo Weaving) only to find himself expelled on the run with the would-be assassin (Hera Hilmar) while questioning everything he knows about the world.

The visual of the traveling predatory cities certainly works on film, but the story is often a mess spending far too long with Tom’s life in London and racing through Hester’s (Hilmar) backstory involving a cyborg killing machine (whose own existence is never adequately explained). There’s also the war between the traveling city and the lone surviving human colony which both Tom and Hester will ultimately become swept up in.

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Marvel’s Carol Danvers

  • Title: Captain Marvel
  • IMDb: link

Marvel's Carol Danvers movie reviewAfter dabbling in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel goes all-in on more hardcore sci-fi with their latest film offering a sort-of alien protagonist in a rebellious Kree warrior who arrives on Earth searching for a scientist before the alien-shape-shifting Skrulls can get their hands on her. Complicating matters for Vers (Brie Larson) are her fractured memories of Earth, only recently returned from her interrogation with the Skrulls, which will not only lead her on a search for a missing scientist but also a discovery into who she is.

It may have taken Marvel a decade and DC to greenlight two movies (Wonder Woman and its sequel) before going into production with a lead female protagonist, but the writing and directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck deliver a solid super-hero film that fits somewhere in the lower-upper-half of the MCU. Larson easily carries the film that brings in some fan favorite supporting characters that help liven up the proceedings after a somewhat clunky opening act that spends a lengthy amount of time explaining the Kree, the Skrulls, the war between the two alien races, and Verse’s role with the Kree.

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Alita: Battle Angel

  • Title: Alita: Battle Angel
  • IMDb: link

Alita: Battle Angel movie reviewWith an interesting character and set-up, but far too much plot for a single film that feels rushed at times while still getting nowhere close to a definitive ending before the credits roll, Alita: Battle Angel is a mixed success. Adapted by director Robert Rodriguez along with James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis from a manga series, it was no surprise to me that Cameron orginally saw this as a television project rather than a feature film.

The opening where an apparently worthless robot is found in a junkyard only to be revealed as the best warrior ever reminded me more than a little of Real Steel. The junkyard treasure here is a cyborg (Rosa Salazar) who Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) will find, repair, and name after his daughter Alita. Despite her innocent appearance, Alita proves to quite formidable. As with many recent sci-fi films, Alita: Battle Angel has a strong class warfare aspect as all those we meet are living in the dystopian slums with a privileged class living high above in a floating city. Over the course of the film Alita will begin to remember fragments of her past leading her into conflict with the overseer in the skies above.

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