10 Awful Movies From 2018 With Awesome Concepts

8. Mortal Engines

The Pitch: Steampunk-styled roving cities annihilate one another in a Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic landscape as they battle for resources and to simply stay alive.

The Reality: Though the backing of producer Peter Jackson ensured that Mortal Engines boasted state-of-the-art visual effects throughout, that's ultimately where the praise for this flop blockbuster begins and ends.

Otherwise, Mortal Engines is about as generic a Y.A. blockbuster as they come, recycling formulaic fantasy tropes with a clear desperation, and even offering up an hilariously obvious, Star Wars-inspired plot twist that just about everybody saw coming.

The performances are nothing, and it's telling that the most human character is ultimately an undead CGI zombie voiced by Stephen Lang. What should've been Mad Max for the PG-13 crowd instead turned out a lifeless bore.