Mortal Engines
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
20
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Anne T. DonahueDec 14, 2018
What’s ironic (and frustrating) is that in an era defined by a constant feeling of doom, a story that could actually capitalize on it makes us feel that way only when we all realize it’s been nearly an hour in to the story and we’re still meeting new characters. Read full review
38
New York PostSara StewartDec 14, 2018
Most of Mortal Engines is a wearying blast of CGI and genre-cribbing (most egregiously, director Christian Rivers hired composer Junkie XL to seemingly lift, wholesale, his soundtrack from “Mad Max: Fury Road”). Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyDec 14, 2018
But it looks great, right? Not really. Directed by Christian Rivers, a longtime art director for Jackson, the overall look asks the question, “are you sick of Steampunk yet,” and for me, yeah. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiDec 12, 2018
After a while, it all starts to feel like a showreel for the film’s special-effects team than an honest effort to tell a story. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 13, 2018
The story is bloated and, despite flashes of imagination, overly familiar. And the dialogue, peppered with well-worn catchphrases. Read full review
33
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerDec 13, 2018
As with any number of popular YA novels-turned-feature films, Mortal Engines has a wealth of possibilities and curious ideas at its disposal. Instead, it tears past them in pursuit of some of the subgenre’s most exhausted narrative tropes, chewing up everything engaging as it grinds along. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 13, 2018
Mortal Engines hasn’t much in the way of originality, other than its rolling city, to distinguish it from other, better post-apocalyptic tales. Read full review
20
ScreenCrushMatt SingerDec 17, 2018
I never would have thought I could get so little amusement out of a film where Hugo Weaving dramatically intones nonsense like “Prepare to ingest!” Read full review
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