PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an evil interdimensional emperor decided he wanted total sovereignty over all life, and a small group of rag tag heroes had to come together to defeat him in a series of fights and narrow escapes… Wait. This isn’t a Star War? Oh yeah. The big movie of the moment is… MORTALLLL KOMBAAAAAAAT!! Now with the hard R rating fans of the franchise have been asking for!
Synopsis for Mortal Kombat (2021):
Hunted by the fearsome warrior Sub-Zero, MMA fighter Cole Young finds sanctuary at the temple of Lord Raiden. Training with experienced fighters Liu Kang, Kung Lao and the rogue mercenary Kano, Cole prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions to take on the enemies from Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe.
I’m going to give full disclosure to anyone reading this review; I am at a place of conflict scoring/reviewing this film traditionally, due to the fact I am a fan of the Mortal Kombat franchise. Honestly, this franchise has had messy continuity at best, leading to 2 of the last 3 games being dedicated to rebooting the franchise—all 3 if you include soft reboots a la Star Trek: The Next Generation—so I didn’t go in expecting anything lore intensive. The story elements of this film are messy to say the least. The crux of the plot is focused on the antagonists (led by Ng Chin Han’s Shang Tsung) trying to prevent the Mortal Kombat by killing anyone who could face them in it, rather than the Bloodsport-inspired kumite/death tournament structure of past adaptations, and heroes desperately trying to find their mystical Arcana (knowing this series, it’s probably actually spelled Arkana in this canon), so they have a hope to defeat the mystical and superpowered enemies of Outworld.
However, the film does split from this with some light subplots, primarily those of newcomer Cole Young (Lewis Tan) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), but they are surface level and would have felt trope-y even if they had been made in a peak ’80s/early ’90s Jean Claude Van Damme movie (another major inspiration for this franchise). One awkward decision of the movie was to make Kabal sound like Darth Vader mixed with Louie from The Simpsons. I’m shocked he didn’t tell the heroes that he’s “WALKIN’ HERE!!!” at some point.
On that note, while the Mortal Kombat characters are relatively basic from their dialogue and characterization, certain actors’ performances help round them out more than the material does, like Josh Lawson as an absolutely scene-stealing Kano, continuing a proud tradition from the first live action Mortal Kombat film. Kano is utterly despicable and loathsome, and no one would want to spend any extended period of time with him if he were a real person, but Lawson is just so dynamic and engaging that I couldn’t help but smile whenever that sicko Kano was being featured.
So, the story is not life changing, but that’s to be expected, right? But we know that’s not what brings audiences to Mortal Kombat games or films? What about the action and effects work? Well, readers, it’s safe to say that you hardcore Mortal Kombat gorehounds will get your fill. The FX crew of this film put a lot of goopy, gross love into the Fatalities and Finishers being replicated.
However, the film is a bit uneven with its fight choreography and costumes. Some sequences are a ton of fun to watch and very visceral, like both Scorpion/Hasashi fights, and others (especially in the first act, after the opening sequence) suffer greatly from modern action movie over-editing to the point that it’s hard to keep track of the play-by-play. When the movie finally unleashes the ArKana and the updated Mortal Kombat theme itself in the final act, however, the fights kick all sorts of ass.
The effects work outside of the fight sequences can be severely lackluster, however. Large parts of the movie are set in vaguely CG, non-distinct desert temple and a trailer park, and some character designs did not translate well at all. A particular dishonorable mention of mine was Mileena, who pretty much spends the majority of the film looking like her actress had a mishap eating a PB&J rather than a supermodel with the crocodile jaw that she usually is portrayed with.
Final Thoughts:
This isn’t a perfect 1:1 of any iteration of any Mortal Kombat—if you’re looking for that, I would recommend last year’s animated Direct-to-Video Mortal Kombat film, Scorpion’s Revenge—but it is a big budget, hard R Mortal Kombat movie that will scratch your itch if you’re looking for a two hour trip from action set piece to action set piece with the occasional cool power or creature.
The film was released internationally in theaters on April 8th, and in the US in theaters and streaming for 31 days on HBOmax today, April 23!
