Moments of truly spectacular big-budget filmmaking is undercut by personality void performances and ho-hum storytelling, making Mortal Engines a film that knows how to rev its engines but doesn’t have enough gas to fulfil its franchise potential.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy indeed was masterful filmmaking. The story, the stunning New Zealand location, the battle scenes…all of this and much more woven together to create a tapestry of cinematic greatness worthy of all praise and awards. What many often overlook is the casting, an assemblage of character actors from various corners of the globe that took on their iconic characters created by J.R.R Tolkien and made them their own.

Mortal Engines, the latest big-budget epic from the LOTR trio Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, fails to capitalise on that fact. Directed by Christian Rivers, Mortal Engines is based on the first of four young adult adventure fantasy novels that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world (sigh), where cities are now monstrous vehicles that rove the long barren terrains of Earth. The biggest and prosperous of these is London, where chief engineer Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) seeks even greater conquests no matter the consequence. Standing in his way is Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) a mysterious figure from this past who seeks revenge.

With a budget of $100 million, there is no denying that Mortal Engines aims to overwhelm with its larger than life visuals and impressive world building. Yet it doesn’t take much to find that under its veneer there are many problems to this would be saga, namely a dire absence of character and stakes to differentiate this Mad-Max for millennials from any other YA nonsense that came before it. The casting of personality bereft leads in Hera Hilmar and Robert Sheehan does not help in engrossing its audience into its world and in its inhabitants. If there was ever a potential franchise that needed a shot of star power, this would be it.

What is impressive with Mortal Engines is its ability to have the audience say “wow!” during key moments of big scale action brilliance. Rivers (who was an art director on The Hobbit) clearly has learned a thing or two from Jackson on how to work on a large landscape. It’s just a shame that the smaller things that make a big picture epic did not get the same love.