Mortal Engines

"Some scars never heal"

2018 2h 8m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 5,358

AdventureScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Many thousands of years in the future, Earth’s cities roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive traction cities, the old London, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the wastelands who will change the course of his life forever.

“Some scars never heal”

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Cast

Hera Hilmar
Hester Shaw
Robert Sheehan
Tom Natsworthy
Hugo Weaving
Thaddeus Valentine
Jihae
Anna Fang
Ronan Raftery
Bevis Pod
Leila George
Katherine Valentine
Patrick Malahide
Magnus Crome
Stephen Lang
Shrike

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christian Rivers
Writers: Vaughan Flanagan, Warren Mahy, Peter Jackson
Languages: English
Countries: New Zealand, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 84% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: New Zealand, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

353+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Christian Rivers, shot by Simon Raby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Tom Holkenborg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jonathan Woodford-Robinson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christian Rivers directs. Simon Raby behind the camera. Tom Holkenborg scores. Jonathan Woodford-Robinson cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in New Zealand, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Earned back only 84% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 8 years ago.
4International production across 2 countries: New Zealand, United States of America.
5353+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Christian Rivers, shot by Simon Raby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Tom Holkenborg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Jonathan Woodford-Robinson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Hera Hilmar and Robert Sheehan and Hugo Weaving carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Some scars never heal".
11IMDB entry: tt1571234 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 8 themes, including "based on novel or book", "dystopia", "post-apocalyptic future", "revenge".

The technical file

Cinematography: Simon Raby
Original score: Tom Holkenborg
Editing: Jonathan Woodford-Robinson
Production design: Dan Hennah
Costume design: Kate Hawley
Makeup / hair: Nancy Hennah
VFX supervisor: Ken McGaugh
Sound: Michael Hedges
Stunt coordinator: Isaac Hamon
Runtime: 128 min · 2h 8m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $100,000,000
Box office: $83,869,818
Return: 84% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Mortal Engines (2018)

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Christian Rivers

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-02-03
★ 4/10
Shocking nobody, Mortal Engines was not very good. Trying to jam way too much into two hours than is reasonable, it instead delivers on zero things. I guess I was kind of interested in the character of Shrike, but that was really the whole of my positive experience with Mortal Engines. Maybe if this thing had come out about eight years ago in the height of the bizarre Steam Punk obsession that gripped the globe (even if it was a weird sort of obsession where everybody called everything they like, and themselves Steam Punk but it really wasn't required to have any relation to actual Steam Punk) then the movie could have at least done well financially, but there's no world wherein this version of Mortal Engines is a consumate film. Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.
TalisBriedis2019-04-11
★ 9/10
Good attempt. Different, unique, and the sets are great. Yeah, it has some weak points, and some of the writing/editing could have been better. But this is a refreshing change in the usual sci-fi stuff that has been coming out. Marvel and DC are flooding the market with their super heroes (not all bad, just too much) I detest all these vampire/werewolf/zombie crap (all of it) This is a nice change, and I enjoyed it! I did not know what to expect when I started to watch this, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ignore the negative reviews. Those are probably written by zombies/vampires/werewolves....
Dark Jedi2019-04-19
★ 9/10
I have to say that I liked this movie a lot. It is kind of fantasy, science fiction (emphasis on fiction here) and steam punk (or perhaps I should say diesel punk) mixed together. The world is a fairly dark post apocalyptic world where moving predator cities prays on each other. The entire concept is really quite ridiculous of course but it makes for some really fantastic and spectacular special effects and I am a sucker for spectacular special effects. In addition the overall story holds together fairly well. That is, in the context of the ludicrous world that is the background of this story in the first place of course. It is quite straightforward without too much annoying social or green preaching that plagues so many movies nowadays. Somewhat predictable but overall a good vehicle for the plentiful action. I also liked most of the characters. Both the bad guy and the good guys had decent charisma with the exception of Tom who was a bit of a naive whiner although he got it together towards the end. There where few flaws. Nothing really major except that, in one scene at the end, the city of London was shown against the wall and it was bloody tiny compared to the wall. The main bad guy’s last resort was to pummel London against the wall and was expected to break it down. Before in the movie London was depicted as really huge. That scene really screwed that and made him delusional. Apart from that, end Tom’s whining and naivety, I really liked this movie. It was the kind of over the top, fantasy/fiction movie with a big budget that you do not see every day. Of course the dickwads, a.ka “critics”) at Rotten Tomatoes and other mainstream media assholes did their best to tell everyone how bad it was. As usual that’s just the stuff that comes out of the south end of a north bound bull.