Mortal Engines | 2018 | PG-13 | – 1.6.3

Why is “Mortal Engines” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “sequences of futuristic violence and action.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many scenes of people being chased and in peril, several scenes of mass destruction and death, several violent encounters ending in the death of some characters often with bloody wounds visible, and some mild language; there is no notable sexual content. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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Based on the Philip Reeve steampunk book series: Centuries after civilization has been destroyed, London is now a mobile predatory city looking for other cities and swallowing them up. Only a young woman (Hera Hilmar) can stop it from devouring what’s the only stationary city left. Also with Hugo Weaving, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Leila George, Stephen Lang, Frankie Adams, Caren Pistorius and Colin Salmon. Directed by Christian Rivers. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in an unidentified language with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:08]

Mortal Engines SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A young man and a young woman hug.
► A man auctioning a woman makes a comment about her breasts. A man makes a comment about “self-pollinating.” A robotic man asks a young woman if she loves a young man.
► A man’s shirt hangs open and we see part of his bare chest with a bandage around his waist. A woman wears a mid-thigh length skirt and thigh-high tights that reveal partial thighs. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a tank top that is cut low at the sides and we see some under arm and side flesh but no clear side breast.

Mortal Engines VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 - A man and a young woman fight, the man holds the young woman by the throat, the young woman slashes him on the face with a knife (we see the bloody cut), he crashes in a flying vessel that bursts into flames and we see him still alive in the wreckage as a giant mechanized tank track moves toward him and crushes him (we hear a scream). A man and a woman fight and she hits him with a club, he stabs her in the abdomen and a fire starts in the house as the woman is dragged away; the woman's young daughter tries to get the man away from her mother and he slashes her across the face with the knife (she screams and runs away). A young woman stabs a man in the stomach in a crowded marketplace (we see blood on his shirt and the knife) and she is pulled away by several others; she gets away and runs across a bridge while being chased by others. A woman with a bladed weapon fights many people and we hear slashing and crunching as blood spurts and sprays; one man is stabbed or slashed across the neck and blood spurts from his throat as he falls and another man is stabbed in the forehead with a knife on the woman's boot heel (we see the bloody wound as he falls to the ground). A man and a woman fight using long bladed weapons and knives; the woman is stabbed in the abdomen and hangs her over a balcony where he holds onto his arm and then releases falling into the mist below (she's presumably dead).
► A woman in a crowded marketplace approaches an auction stage and shoots the auctioneer's head off (we see blood spray and char on his shirt; the woman then shoots many others in the area with blood spray and bloody wounds are shown (we also see some chunks of matter). A man is shot in the back several times as he protects another man (we see blood pour from his mouth and bloody bullet holes open in his back). Several guards are shot down by a flying vessel (we see bloody spots on their uniforms and we see their bodies again later). Many people in a control room are gunned down (we see their bodies with bloody wounds on their clothing).
► A robotic man attacks people on a flying vessel; they shoot at him and he throws one out the side of the vessel, another through the floor of the vessel and another is held by the head over the hole in the floor. A robotic man throws a man to the floor and knocks him unconscious, then moves to step on his chest (in order to kill him) but he is stopped. A robotic man collapses and his glowing eyes fade before he falls back onto the ground. A few men shove each other in a marketplace and one man punches another in the face (he has a bloody nose). A man brakes a guardrail and pushes a man over a ledge into a giant chute (we see him OK later). A woman holds a knife to a man's chin. A woman holds a gun to a young man's head. Several people climb through a crypt and into a church where a young man is grabbed and held by a man.
► We hear pounding and yelling coming from inside a large metal box and a man looks inside as a glowing green eye appears at the opening and the man is startled; the box is dropped into the ocean and the robotic man gets out.
► A young girl is shown running alone and screaming and she has blood on her face and dress (we see this in flashback several times); she collapses in a puddle of water and a robotic man picks her up and takes her to safety.
► A young woman runs from a robotic man in several scenes and he is shot in the chest by a flying vessel in one scene (we see smoldering coming from his chest); a young man dangles from a rope attached to the flying vessel and the robotic man holds the end of the rope until the man cuts it away and the vessel escapes with the young man and the young woman. A young man and a young woman run from flying vessels that chase them and shoot harpoons at them, they get away but the young woman is cut on the leg by a harpoon (we see the bloody wound a few times and another person says, "That's gonna leave a scar"); the two fall into a hatch in the ground that lands them in a vehicle that resembles a millipede. A young man and a young woman run through the inner-workings of a giant mechanized city and we see giant saws cutting through the remains of a smaller mechanized town, churning grinders spin toward the two as they run and dodge them and the young woman jumps into a large chute and disappears off screen (we see her OK later). A young woman scouts a landscape and sees a giant predator city moving toward a crowded marketplace where many mechanized towns and villages are gathered and they scatter when they hear of the danger; one town tries to get away but is eventually snared by harpoons and pulled into a large bay door where the people are offloaded and the remains of the town are pulverized after a man orders it to be "ingested." A young man is shown lying unconscious in the deep tread mark of a giant mechanized city and he and a young woman evade small flying search vessels.
► Flying vessels fire on a giant mechanized city and it shoots back at them; one pilot is shot through his windscreen and crashes into a wall of the city, another pilot dive-bombs a cannon on the city wall and she and her vessel explode in flames. A giant mechanized city prepares to launch an attack on a wall and when it fires several flying vessels are sucked into the blast zone and destroyed; we see rubble where the wall had been struck and the city fires two more times (we see people running and screaming). A giant collection of flying vessels floats in the sky until one vessel moored there explodes and causes the rest of it to explode and sink to the ground. We see large mechanized towns moving through desolate landscapes and a giant city that "devours" the smaller towns using the remains for fuel.
► People in chains are auctioned in a marketplace. People are ushered through a security area and items including weapons are confiscated; we hear an announcement saying that children will be separated from their parents. References are made to a hunt for fuel and "predator cities." A man in a museum makes reference to "American deities" as he points to statues of Minions from the Disney movies. We hear that vibrations in a giant moving city are causing damage to items in a museum. A man talks about the Earth's crust being shattered into a thousand pieces. People talk about a quantum energy weapon called "Medusa." References are made to a protest group of "anti-tractionists." A young woman makes several comments about a man murdering her mother. A comment is made states, "She could be a problem unless you kill her first." We hear that people scavenge for "old tech" to build a weapon. A robotic man tells a young woman that he can fix her broken heart by making her like him and she says, "You're going to kill me," and he replies, "For a while." A robotic man cries out in despair when he realizes a young woman has run away. A woman talks about having been a slave. A woman tells a young woman, "I thought you were dead."
► People gathered in a crowded marketplace are shown wearing tattered clothing, stained with dirt and dust, a few are wearing full face masks and one young woman wears a scarf across her face only revealing her eyes and hiding a deep scar on her face from a knife wound. A man scoops out and serves a cup of lumpy, green goop to another person. A robotic man serves a girl a bowl of gelatinous looking slop. A young man steps into a puddle of muck and it makes a slurping sound. A young woman drinks from a muddy puddle. A young woman eats an antique Twinkie. A reference is made to drinking your own urine. A man drinks a cup of green/blue tea and spits it out.

Mortal Engines LANGUAGE 3

 - 1 anatomical term, 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid, skinny, dimwitted, Southies, petal, sad, fool, insane, idiot, stingy bastard), exclamations (bloody, for quark's sake, shut-up), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, My God, God Help Us, God Knows). | profanity glossary |

Mortal Engines SUBSTANCE USE

 - People hold what looks like glasses of beer.

Mortal Engines DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Municipal Darwinism, apocalypse, greed, world domination, the future, the past, cover-ups, empathy, murder, broken hearts, freedom, lessons, history, chaos, death of a parent, weapons of mass destruction, egomaniacs, megalomaniacs.

Mortal Engines MESSAGE

 - Megalomaniacs will always try to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction and only a few stalwart individuals can stand in the way at the last moment.