Mortal Kombat review

MORTAL KOMBAT: 

THIS “KOMBAT” GIVES FANS OF THE LONG-RUNNING VIDEO GAME FRANCHISE THE RELENTLESSLY VIOLENT SLAUGHTERHOUSE THEY’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Scorpion and Sub-Zero in the new film adaptation of Mortal Kombat

 

            Kombat returns to the big screen in Mortal Kombat, the latest film adaptation of the enormously popular video game franchise of the same name and the first Mortal Kombat movie to be released in theaters since Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997. If you’ve read my review of last year’s direct-to-video animated film, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge then you know I wouldn’t call myself a Mortal Kombat purist, but I’ve played a handful of the video games throughout my life and have seen the previous live-action films that were released in 1995 and 1997. 

            But in case you haven’t, here are my quick thoughts on the earlier films, the first Mortal Kombat movie from 1995 despite being rated PG-13 and lacking the hyper-violence its source material is known for is enjoyable as a dumb, fun action flick and one of the better video game film adaptations released back then with the highlights being the theme song and the best-looking Goro ever. However, its 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is best described as the video game movie equivalent to The Room or Batman & Robin where it’s so incredibly cheesy and stupid that it’s borderline hilarious, and this was long before Movie Satan gave us Uwe Boll. 

            Due to the critical and commercial failure of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation a third film was canceled and languished in development hell until it was resurrected shortly after Warner Bros. acquired Midway Games (The original publisher behind the Mortal Kombat video game series) and began development on a reboot film that would be closer in spirit to its source material than the 90s version. And by that, I mean an R rating and tons of blood and gore with James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring 1 and 2, Aquaman) producing and newcomer Simon McQuoid directing as well as an awesome direct-to-video animated film released the year prior known as Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge which brought the Mortal Kombat universe to life in animation form, bloody fatalities, and all. 

            So, how does this new live-action Mortal Kombat film hold up when compared to the previous attempts at bringing the game to the screen? I think it’s good, not great but as ridiculously over-the-top and violent action films go, I had a lot of fun and it’s a much more faithful adaptation than the 1995 film and Annihilation. 

            The film follows MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan-Iron Fist, Into the Badlands, Deadpool 2) who discovers he has been chosen to participate in a fighting tournament in the realm of Outworld where participants fight to the death for the continued safety of their world known as Mortal Kombat. In order to stand a chance Cole seeks out Earth’s greatest champions consisting of Special Forces agent Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee-The Vow, Sirens, Battle of the Sexes), mercenary with a serious temper…and an eye laser Kano (Josh Lawson-House of Lies, The Little Death, Bombshell), Special Forces Major Jax (Mehcad Brooks-Desperate Housewives, Glory Road, Supergirl), Shaolin Monks Liu Kang (Ludi Lin-Power Rangers (2017), Aquaman, Black Mirror) and Kung Lao (Max Huang), appointed Earthrealm protector Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano-Silence, Thor: Ragnarok, Midway), and Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada-The Last Samurai, The Wolverine, Westworld), an undead ninja specter who seeks revenge for his death as well as his family and clan at the hands of Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim-The Raid: Redemption, Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond). 

            Together, they must battle against the forces of Outworld and protect Earthrealm from the soul-eating sorcerer known as Shang Tsung (Chin Han-The Dark Knight, Contagion, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). 

            The film also stars Nathan Jones (Jackie Chan’s First Strike, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Scorpion King: Book of Souls) as Reiko, Damon Herriman (Mindhunter, The Nightingale, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as the voice of Kabal, and Angus Sampson (Insidious franchise, The Mule (2014 film), Mad Max: Fury Road) as the voice of Goro. 

            Overall, Mortal Kombat probably won’t win over any newcomers, but fans of the video game will be treated to a relentlessly violent death-match with plenty of fan service and characters from the source material, cheesy dialogue, and an onslaught of bloody action and delightfully grisly fatalities. I wasn’t going into this movie expecting high art or to get wrapped up in the story and character development, I just wanted to see a dumb, over-the-top blood-fest with characters I know from the video games…that’s basically what I got. 

            The story is very standard, and the main characters aren’t anything that interesting especially Cole who is completely made up for the movie like what Alice was in the Resident Evil films. He’s not a bad character or anything, he’s just incredibly bland and the stereotypical former fighter turned family man type of character who’s trying to protect his loved ones, I feel like they should have just replaced him with Bob Odenkirk’s character from Nobody. 

            Thankfully, there’s still plenty of screen-time for characters who originated from the games, some of whom have greatly improved since the 1995 film. The most notable example is Kano, who is an absolute riot in this film, a washed-up mercenary with serious anger issues and can shoot an eye laser, it seems Josh Lawson is having a lot of fun chewing the scenery with his performance and he delivers some of the funniest lines in the entire movie, I smile every time he shows up. 

            Scorpion and Sub-Zero are also done better justice to in this film than in its predecessors, their backstory is lifted straight from the original games and was previously adapted as part of Scorpion’s Revenge and you get a pretty damn exhilarating recreation of Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s origins at the beginning of the film. Granted, it was quite disappointing that there isn’t much screen-time for Scorpion in this film aside from the beginning and during the final battle, but whenever he’s on-screen and battling Sub-Zero it’s a blast. 

            What this film gains in extreme violence lacks in world building and this is the one thing the 1995 version actually does a lot better. This one doesn’t have much of a tournament despite it being discussed often nor does it establish the realm of Outworld that well, the 1995 film is rated PG-13 and lacks the blood but at least you felt immersed in its world whereas with this, not so much. 

            Despite its flaws, Mortal Kombat is gory fun for fans of the source material, whether you’re watching it in theaters or streaming it on HBO Max, this bloody tournament delivers.