Mortal Engines (12A)

Drama, Action

Fantasy adventure in which a young woman seeks vengeance in a futuristic world where large moving cities roam the wilderness.

The critical consensus

It rips a few too many pages from familiar playbooks, but when it indulges in its own weirdness this film casts off those heavy caterpillar tracks and soars.

(*) (*) Helen O'Hara, Empire Online, 06/12/2018

The first book in Philip Reeves's fantasy quartet, directed by Peter Jackson protege Christian Rivers, is struggling to do justice to its many concepts.

(*) (*) (*) Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent, 06/12/2018

Jackson has turned Philip Reeve’s dystopian adventure novel into a tiringly frenetic and derivative fantasy-adventure movie.

(*) (*) (*) Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 05/12/2018

This should’ve been so much more than spectacular effects and shouting.

Tom Huddleston, Little White Lies, 06/12/2018

Bloated on its ambition, Mortal Engines bites off more than it can ingest.

(*) (*) (*) Kevin Harley, The List, 10/12/2018

Manages to be even duller than The Hobbit.

(*) (*) (*) Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 13/12/2018

This Peter Jackson-produced adaptation of Philip Reeve’s YA fantasy series falls way below the mark.

(*) (*) (*) Simran Hans, The Observer, 16/12/2018