Mortal Engines (2018)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
In a world where cities move on wheels and hunt smaller settlements, a historian and a masked assassin must team up to stop a catastrophic weapon.
The story
Set more than a thousand years in the future following a cataclysmic conflict known as the Sixty Minute War, the remnants of humankind form mobile cities called "Traction Cities." Under the philosophy of "Municipal Darwinism," these larger "predator" cities hunt and absorb smaller settlements in the "Great Hunting Ground." When the city of London captures a small Bavarian mining town, an apprentice historian named Tom Natsworthy and a masked assassin named Hester Shaw find themselves forced to work together. They must navigate the dangerous landscape of the Hunting Ground to uncover the truth behind a piece of "Old-Tech" and survive the pursuit of a powerful, high-ranking official who seeks to weaponize it.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Following the Sixty Minute War, humanity survives in mobile "Traction Cities" that hunt smaller settlements in the Great Hunting Ground. When the city of London captures the town of Salzhaken, apprentice historian Tom Natsworthy and a masked assassin, Hester Shaw, are forced into an uneasy alliance. They flee the city to navigate the dangerous terrain, pursued by Thaddeus Valentine and his reanimated cyborg assassin, Shrike. They eventually join the Anti-Traction League, discovering that a piece of Old-Tech—a computer core for the superweapon MEDUSA—has been stolen by the Guild of Engineers. As the conflict escalates, Hester discovers that the core is hidden in her mother's necklace. In a final confrontation at the Shield Wall, Hester and Tom must stop Valentine from using MEDUSA to destroy the barrier. During the climax, it is revealed that Valentine is Hester's father. Hester destroys the weapon, and Tom destroys London's engine, leading to a peace treaty between the warring factions.
- First release year
- 2018
- Runtime (minutes)
- 128
- Production countries
- United States; New Zealand; China
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Christian Rivers
- Writers
- Fran Walsh · writer; Philippa Boyens · writer; Peter Jackson · writer
- Cast and characters
- 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
- Genres
- post-apocalyptic; steampunk; science fiction; action
- Themes
- survival; technology; war; identity
- Tone and mood
- tense; action-packed; dystopian
- Premise and plot tags
- post-apocalyptic; steampunk; survival; action
- Source material / true-story basis
- Philip Reeve's 2001 novel
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was considered a significant box office failure.
- Reported review scores
- CinemaScore · score: B- · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 66% · scale: percentage; IGN · score: 7.5 · scale: 10
- Production trivia
- The film was a major box office failure, losing the studio an estimated $175 million.; Peter Jackson has an uncredited virtual cameo as a statue of Sooty Pete.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…