ironhorse_iv Review of Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Get over here! It's time to talk about Mortal Kombat. Is it a movie worth watching? Kinda.

[6/10 · 14 May 2021]

Honestly while not a flawless victory, this fantasy martial arts adaptation of a 1990s fighting arcade game was not horrible. Like the original PG-13 1995 & 1997 movies, this 2021 reboot also adapted in and out franchise story elements. With the results being that the visuals are too extremely gory. Because of that, this flick came very close to getting an NC-17 title by the MPA. Instead, it got a Rated R rating. With that, this film's gruesomely kills are a lot more memorable than the previous movies big time. Even with all the quick cuts from director Simon McQuoid and his crew, the fights perform by the legit martial artists honestly lives up to the bloody fatalities of the game; along with the somewhat silly unnatural special effects, listenable music and semi beautiful cinematographic backdrops. However, the previous ones do establish the underground fighting tournament for control the Earthrealm a lot better by showing it. Here the movie explains the lore in a quick spill badly execution black screen text scene, follow by a repetitive exposition dump from a character with little history of witnessing the tournament, firsthand. You would think that Earth God defender Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), would be that story teller yet it's given to Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee). Nevertheless, the tournament never really does starts in this movie. This film instead establishes that sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) who has overseen the last nine victories loves to cheat by taking out the Earthrealm's champions before the fights starts. All of this doesn't make any sense; seeing how the tournament is there to stop Outworld from conquering Earth. Yet they could enter easily and freely into that world at anytime and anywhere to interfere with the God of Thunder's fighters. Honestly what's really stopping them from conquering the world all through. Another thing if Raiden could take his fighters to the endless void, a neutral world to escape the villains. I really don't get why his crew wouldn't train there until the tournament starts or the Elder Gods find out on Tsung's scheme. A lot of this film's conflict could easily be resolved with his teleporting powers. The movie never makes it clear what Raiden could and couldn't interfere with and why he couldn't just banish Tsung all right. I really got lost in the lack of logic of the plot because of him. It sucks because Asano does look the part, but he doesn't have the natural charisma or gravitas of that of the previous actor Christopher Lambert to keep me entertain to overlook the big jarring flaws of that character. This version of Raiden is also a jerk with his bemoaning and insulting attitude. Not fun to be around. The film makes it hard to believe that he cares about Earth. Another thing that the original flick has over this, was its protagonist. Instead of having original video game characters like Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) take the helm. This supernatural martial arts film written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham goes in another direction by following a studio mandated new character Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a somewhat mediocre mixed martial arts fighter who quite dull and boring as the chosen one. It's really hard to root for Young as an underdog because how dumb and reckless the story makes the character be. It's quite stupid to rage quit and go back to his family when the threats are still happening. He pretty much put his wife and daughter in danger on purpose. Plus, he doesn't even evolve into Scorpion like the story makes it out to be. Instead, his new gain powers are kinda lame. Think of a punching bag mixed with Wing Chun wooden dummy and you got what he turns out to be. Nonetheless I kinda do understand why he has those magic based powers due to feeble Earth realm individual traits being enhance for the tournament such in the technology or cybernetic case of Mehcad Brooks' Jax's metal arms and Josh Lawson' Kano's eye. Since Cole is always in the meager defense. It made sense for him to have a literal plot armor. Still, I kinda wish he had more of a fighting spirit. The character always getting his butt beaten or having another character save him at the last minute. He made out to look so weak. That's not how you build up a hero at all. The movie would probably work better as a revenge story if they kept the establishing character Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) as the lead. I kinda like the Edo period Jidaigeki Chanbara opening with him versus Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). Still kinda wish they establish why they were fighting with each other. Nevertheless, there was a lot of material that they could had gone with Hanzo after that fight, such as showing how he gain his demonic powers and the conflict that comes with it, like choosing to defend the Earthrealm for his daughter or join the forces of the Outworld for his soul. Sadly, that character doesn't show back up until the final few minutes of the end without much exposition. Nevertheless, it was still badass to see him fight his rival once again. Love Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero. Sorry for the pun, but he was chilling. Very menacing. As for the other antagonists. The performances needed a little work even with Lawson being somewhat a memorable comic relief as Kano. Nonetheless, I do get why the filmmakers chosen to showcase some of the lesser-known villains from the franchise. Can't have ultimate baddie Shao Kahn died in the first movie. The same with the heroes. Glad they kinda hint that other characters like Nightwolf, Johnny Cage and others might be coming soon. That would be nice to witness. Overall: While not truly toasty. This reboot still worth a watch both in theaters and on HBO Max. So, check the movie out.