This futuristic fantasy based on Philip Reeves novel and directed by Christian Rivers, is a visually captivating venture. The plot and many characters is sometimes confusing, but that doesn’t take away from the terrific effects.
The set is a post apocalyptic future and London has emerged as the big cheese swallowing up the smaller cities around it. It rolls across the screen perched atop gigantic tank tracks. As it moves, it devours cities ill-equipped to defend themselves.
Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) leads London’s power grab. In order to form weapons, the people unearth relics from the past. Sunbeam toasters, old gears and sewing machines are very hot commodities in their search.
Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), a young scar faced woman is the heroine here. She tries to take down Valentine to avenge her mother’s death, although it takes a long time to actually find out why.
Robert Sheehan plays Tom Natsworthy, a good-guy historian, who helps Hester in her quest to stop Valentine.
The dystopian world that the Peter Jackson group has created is so awesome, you don’t want to miss a thing. One strange vehicle after another trying to maneuver over the deep crevices that the tank tracks make, people climbing over them and sometimes disappearing into mud, and if you do survive the terrain, you could be sold into slavery or killed.
One of the most interesting effects was a fantastic floating city that hovers in the sky. Visitors arrive in all kinds of flying machines and moor on its hanging metal extremities.
So much energy seems to have been spent on the CGI effects, not as much time on developing the characters. Even so, it’s a fun adventure to behold.