Review of the film "Chronicles of Predatory Cities" (2018) - Big City Lights

In 2016, after a noticeable break (almost two years have passed since the premiere of The Battle of the Five Armies, the final part of the Hobbit trilogy), Peter Jackson announced the start of production of his next big project: the film adaptation of the novel "Mortal Machines" - the first part of the fantastic teenage cycle of the Briton Philip Reeve.

The cycle is not so new - the debut book was published in 2001, and for this genre of literature this is a solid period of time. Under these conditions, almost anything can happen to the perception of a fantastic plot: it can be reinterpreted as practically prophetic or, conversely, as outdated (and maybe even naively primitive).

The world in the book is more like a harsh wild desert, where huge cars move-cities that roam in search of resources and "devour" small settlements. London is undoubtedly a big and majestic city - and storylines are intertwined around it:

Esther Shaw, a girl who hides her face and wants revenge;

Tom Knutsworthy, a guy who dreamed of becoming an aviator, but works in a museum, and Thaddeus Valentine, a gray cardinal with a cold smile, obsessed with one thing that can change the world. Or rather, destroy it?

The main thing we know about Peter Jackson is that he is one of the biggest geeks of our time, and the range of things he can be a supporter of is extremely wide. To bring King Kong back to the screens, to recreate Tolkien's Middle-earth, to show paradise in "Sweet Bones" - obviously, these are challenges that the director willingly sets for himself.

With "Mortal Machines", the situation is somewhat different - Jackson took on the role of screenwriter and producer (along with his constant companions Fran Walsh and Philippa Boens), putting Christian Rivers in the director's chair, with whom he somehow collaborated in almost every film since 1992.

"Mortal Machines" is the case when the script, as a form of plot organization, as a kind of organizer, works quite successfully, but there are problems in the content itself. That is, the film has all the ties and denouements, the climax, the development of the characters, and the "guns" hung on the walls in the first act, in the last (or in the penultimate, not so important) will definitely "shoot". The plot itself is such a typical teenage fantasy, devoid of intrigue. In the 1990s and early 2000s, such a story could probably have been perceived somewhat differently, but today there is nothing to surprise here - as the plot and characters created according to a certain template, the implementation of which we have already seen many times, can hardly surprise.

However, for a children's audience, the situation may be radically different - after all, this story was created just for her. Christian Rivers is much more experienced in working on visual effects than in direct directing, and after watching it, it's hard to get rid of the idea that "Mortal Machines" were conceived in order to just "play with cars" - and everything succeeded from this side. But against this background, I want even more some kind of "highlight" like a minor hero with armor-piercing charisma, so that Hugo Weaving was given a full turn, or something else. Because without this, the lights of the big city, although they shine brightly, do not warm. After seeing the benefits of using a promo code for 1xBet bonuses, you are probably wondering where to catch it. This won’t take a lot of time. First of all, you should visit the gambling site and check its welcome bonuses. The bookmaker from time to time provides new vouchers for players from India and several other countries. You receive comp-points for every sports bet. Once you've accumulated enough of them, visit the Promo Store on the 1xBet site. It is filled with 1xbet promo code india as well as how to monitor the appearance of new bonuses: first deposit, no deposit bonuses and bonuses upon registration.

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