Mortal Engines: War of the Cities

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Movie
German title Mortal Engines: War of the Cities
Original title Mortal Engines
Country of production New Zealand ,
United States
original language English
Publishing year 2018
length 128 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Christian Rivers
script Peter Jackson ,
Philippa Boyens ,
Fran Walsh
production Deborah Forte ,
Peter Jackson,
Amanda Walker ,
Fran Walsh,
Zane Weiner
music Junkie XL
camera Simon Raby
cut Jonathan Woodford-Robinson
occupation

Mortal Engines: War of the Cities (Original title: Mortal Engines ) is a New Zealand-American feature film directed by Christian Rivers from 2018 . It is based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Philip Reeve of the same name . The film was released in German cinemas on December 13, 2018 and in US cinemas the following day.

action

The action takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, in which the earth's resources are almost depleted and cities have been transformed into mobile fortresses. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium, a thousand years before the events of the film, the existing civilization had destroyed itself in the so-called 60-minute war.

Predatory cities like London hunt down and dismantle smaller cities and trading posts in order to make the valuable raw materials their own. But this system, based on an ideology called “urban Darwinism”, has reached its limits, as the huge city is on the verge of its own end due to the increasingly rare loot. One way out could be the resources of a civilization of permanent settlements in Asia. These are united as the anti-tractionist league in the fight against the predatory cities and protected by a large wall against which other traveling cities have already failed.

The archeology apprentice Tom Natsworthy lives in London. He prevents the murder of the masked young woman Hester Shaw on the head of the archaeological guild Thaddeus Valentine. The prevented killer manages to escape from the city, not without telling Tom the reason for her action. Thaddeus then threw Tom overboard for fear of this knowledge. During the course of the film it turns out that Thaddeus is Hester's father and killed her mother to get a huge weapon.

With this weapon he steers London to the great wall in order to destroy it. The initial community of convenience, Hester and Tom, came into contact with the residents behind the wall and tried to repel the attack, in which the military forces of the defenders had already been destroyed. A deactivation code for the destructive weapon that Hester got from her dying mother is supposed to stop the robbery town. In a suicide mission they penetrate London, can save the already badly damaged wall from complete destruction and also destroy the drive of London. The robbery city comes to a standstill shortly before the wall, it is finished. Its residents are spared by the population of the permanent cities and welcomed humanely, while Hester and Tom decide together to travel around the world on the rebel Anna Fang's airship.

production

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Philip Reeve , which marks the beginning of a series of novels set in a dystopian future in which a battle for resources takes place.

Directed by Christian Rivers . Producer Peter Jackson wrote the script together with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens , with whom he had previously worked on the Lord of the Rings films.

Irish actor Robert Sheehan starred in the film. Jackson also worked on the project with some actors he had already cast for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies . These include Hugo Weaving , Mark Hadlow , Stephen Ure and Mark Mitchinson .

On July 19, 2017, Reeve announced that filming had been completed. Simon Raby acted as cameraman .

The score was composed by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL. The soundtrack for the film, which comprises a total of 20 pieces of music, was released for download by Back Lot Music on December 14, 2018.

The world premiere was on November 27, 2018 in London. The film was released in German cinemas on December 13, 2018 and in US cinemas the following day. It has been available on Amazon Prime since August 18, 2020.

Age rating

In the US, the film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA . In Germany, the film was approved by the FSK from the age of 12.

reception

criticism

The Rotten Tomatoes review collection lists 124 reviews, 27% of which are positive. The average rating is 5 out of 10 points.

Gross profit

With an estimated budget of $ 100 million, the North American theatrical market raised only $ 16 million, making it 114th in the most successful films of 2018 in the United States . Worldwide revenues of over 83 million dollars and thus only the 78th place of the most successful films of 2018 could be achieved.

Awards

In early December 2018, it was announced that the film was in the preselection for the 2019 Academy Awards in the Best Visual Effects category . Ultimately, however, there was no Oscar nomination. As part of the Visual Effects Society Awards 2019, he was honored for the representation of London in the category Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release Certificate for Mortal Engines: War of the Cities . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Age rating for Mortal Engines: War of the Cities . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b c The most bizarre movies coming out in 2018 that will melt your mind. In: looper.com. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  4. ↑ http://www.philip-reeve.com/blog/
  5. ↑ Junkie XL Scoring 'Mortal Engines' Movie Adaptation. In: filmmusicreporter.com, June 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ http://filmmusicreporter.com/2018/12/06/mortal-engines-soundtrack-details/
  7. ↑ https://www.leicestersquare.london/world-premiere-mortal-engines/
  8. ↑ Start dates in Germany. In: insidekino.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019 ; accessed on June 13, 2018 .
  9. ^ Mortal Engines. In: www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Mortal Engines In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  11. ↑ Domestic Box Office For 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
  12. ^ Mortal Engines. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
  13. ↑ 2018 Worldwide Box Office. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Kristopher Tapley: Oscars: 'Aquaman', 'Avengers' and More Advance in VFX Race. In: Variety, December 3, 2018.
  15. ↑ https://variety.com/2019/artisans/awards/visual-effects-society-awards-2019-winners-1203129301/