I liked this. A little too long, but all new films are, especially any that Peter Jackson has some involvement. The story was as good as anything else in the last few years. There was a comparison here to
Aquaman and I'd ask if you seriously want to argue
Aquaman was more cerebral?
it was escapist nonsense and easily watchable. I didn't see it as an accurate future prediction.
I've read a few newspaper reviews... and most have trouble accepting the city on tracks idea.
Doesn't the moving cities idea come from Japanese Anime? The James Blish
Cities in Flight cities did also have a large atomic space weapon called the Bethé blaster, so maybe
@Al Jackson has a point here.
What did bothered me it is the premise of "predatory cities", gigantic mechanical moving cities, with a touch of steampunk (ok, a lot of steampunk), running on some non-identified fuel.
I got the idea was that big cities were living off smaller cities, consuming them entirely, until only the biggest cities remained and that was the point we had now reached, with nothing left to consume. In that regard, it certainly does act as the metaphor
@Teresa Edgerton speaks of.
I can assure you there is no room for metaphors in the movie... the human hunt scene at night, when [they] are burning a lot of fuel to catch humans in the middle of nowhere... after that comes the scene where the slaves are sold to an improvised market for 5 coins... It doesn't sound very profitable to me.
Yes, that fails to make any sense on a number of levels, doesn't it? The burning of a carbon fuel (and as pointed out, they have jet engines on aircraft) and the fact that they do it to catch humans who are worth less than the fuel.
The ending was also confused. The peaceful people inhabiting the shield wall own a lot of weapons to defend it. Is the MEDUSA weapon the work of a single mad scientist or is it the official policy of the government? We were told that London was full of "innocent people" who should be saved if there was any other way. We then observe these "innocent people" cheering as the shield wall is destroyed with people living inside. Then, after London joins the multitude of other cities that have failed to breach the wall, the inhabitants are welcomed into the shield wall and go along willingly. If there are enough resources behind the shield wall for everyone, then what need is there for a wall and why didn't they just walk in without a fight?
