After years and years of video game movies being absolute trash, it finally feels like there’s a changing of the tide with the latest adaptation of Mortal Kombat.
As its release grew closer and closer, director Simon McQuoid hyped up the film like no other, with talks of multiple fatalities, gallons of blood, and moments that fans would absolutely adore. Now that it’s here, Mortal Kombat delivers the promised goods in spades and brings the franchise back to the big screen in enjoyably action-packed fashion.
When it comes to the action, Mortal Kombat continuously delivers fast-paced sequences with stunning choreography and absolutely brutal blows. There are non-stop moments of action that’ll keep you fixed on everything happening on screen and the film even brings in moves from the game that’ll put a smile on any fan’s face. Sub-Zero’s (Joe Taslim) moveset is excellently brought to life–as he has a flurry of unique ice attacks–and Kung Lao’s (Max Huang) hat throws and Kabal’s (Daniel Nelson) blinding speed are also brought to life well. The excellent choreography gives the fights great pacing and the camera work gives the movement a great flow. Really, though, the cherry on top of Mortal Kombat’s action is the buckets of blood and gore that come along with each bout.
Good God, McQuoid wasn’t joking about multiple fatalities and blood being all over this film. Every punch, kick, and slash comes with a heavy amount of blood and the fatalities that come soon after are not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of recognizable fatalities that are jaw-dropping to see brought to life and one specifically from Kung Lao that the entire audience, including myself, applauded. As a fan, it feels so good that the violence and bloody brutality of Mortal Kombat, arguably the most iconic element of the franchise, is finally brought to life with an R-rated movie that holds nothing back.
Mortal Kombat is more than just blood and action, though, as the game itself has actually grown to give its already iconic character roster more depth within its last couple iterations. Since the game series had its own reboot with MK9 back in 2011, it’s impressively weaved together a surprisingly strong and well-received narrative that’s fleshed out its lore and given its characters a much deeper story. Now, in terms of this reboot, the cast certainly evokes the characters and their distinct personalities, but the story and world-building are sub-par compared to the games.
The visual look of all the characters is absolutely perfect. Whether masked or unmasked, nearly the entire cast carries the look and feel of their characters in every moment. Chin Han is perfect as the commanding and devious sorcerer Shang Tsung and Tadanobu Asano is a solid Lord Raiden, with the all-knowing presence and enjoyable charm he brings. Huang perfectly brings out Kung Lao’s slight cockiness and competitiveness, making him one of the best characters of the film, while Ludi Lin showcases Lui Kang’s more methodical and reserved approach to their cause. Jessica McNamee is great as Sonya Blade, bringing out her “no-nonsense” attitude while giving her character a little more heart through her new motivation to be worthy of being a part of the fight. The real star of the show is Josh Lawson as Kano, as he carries the comedic relief role on his shoulders with ease.
Even Cole Young (Lewis Tan), an original character for the film, is a solid addition and continues a trend in the games of having descendants of legacy characters join the roster. Honestly, though, it’s just great that the diversity of the Mortal Kombat game roster is well represented here and opens up the possibility for more in the future. As for the story, it has good, unique elements. The idea of destined warriors having dragon markings is really interesting and works in giving Sonya something to yearn for. The idea of them training to earn their extra abilities, like Kano getting a laser eye, is really interesting and adds some good logic to Liu Kang using fireballs or Kung Lao being able to teleport with his hat. As a whole, the story works fine as a thread that connects all of the great fighting together, but it fails in creating a deeper intrigue to the Mortal Kombat world—especially for those new to the franchise.
The film constantly throws out important names of factions, other characters, and the idea of this all leading to the titular tournament with nothing behind it. Aside from Liu Kang and Kung Lao explaining their personal histories and showing Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) historic rivalry, none of the characters are given much depth. Kabal and Mileena (Sisi Stringer) are first to come to mind. They simply feel like roster fodder and it’s unfortunate to say that about fan-favorite characters. There’s also a lot of talk about the history of the tournament and the impact of Earthrealm losing one more tournament that never comes to fruition and the film doesn’t leave you wanting more because of how lackluster its final moment is.
Mortal Kombat clearly wants to start a franchise and even teases the incarnation of a popular franchise character, but it goes about making you excited for it in all the wrong ways. The film spends all this time talking about the tournament, but ends on a note of well, we need to go find more characters before the tournament can begin. It doesn’t try to build out Shao Khan, Shinnok, or really anyone in opposition to our heroic protagonists and doesn’t try to create intrigue through history or lore for either fans or newcomers.
So, although it stumbles in establishing the need or desire to for a new franchise or cinematic universe, Mortal Kombat delivers the blood-soaked goods in a relatively authentic adaptation that evokes the spirit and iconic elements of its material incredibly well.
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