Making a fighting game film should be a relatively simple process, something that the new Mortal Kombat understands well. This is a fairly uncomplicated story whose goal is to segue into the kind of gory battle scenes long-time gams of the series grew up with. Me personally, I was always crummy at MK fighters and NetherRealm games’ comboing system (I was always a Capcom/SNK guy), but I went to see the 1995 MK feature twice in the cinema (Annihilation was…. something else altogether).
Well, here comes a new challenger, in the form of first-time director Simon McQuoid, who’s got a much bloodier depiction of its iconic warriors, on top of a new lead hero to serve as the audience’s viewpoint. Following a flashback showing how the merciless ninja Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) exterminated the clan of Hanzo Hasashi, the future Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), Hanzo’s present-day descendant Cole Young (Lewis Tan) struggles as a down-on-his-luck MMA fighter. He’s no Jon Jones, but he’s able to pay the bills for his family.
He’ll have to toughen up his chin like never before, because the master of the Outworld Realm’s tournaments Shang Tsung (Chin Han) has decided that despite his forces having won nine competitions over the Earthrealm (one more loss for the forces of Earth, and it’s curtains), he says, eff this tournament noise, let’s go kill off their champions before they have the chance to beat us. It’s a bit disappointing that this version has no actual tourney, because Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s original performance as the master of ceremonies was hammy as hell, super enjoyable watching him chew up the scenery.
Now in the line of Tsung’s fire, Cole’s now got to find his “arcana”, a dormant superpower held by all of MK’s fighters in this story. Mechad Brooks is Jax, the metal-armed soldier (how he acquires them is pretty unsettling), accompanied by Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), the sleazy bounty hunter Kano (Josh Lawson, having arguably the most fun here, and they all unite with Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), and the thunder god Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) to defend the world from being run over by Outworld’s army.
For the most part, this is a movie that gets in, gives you what you’d generally expect when you see the name “Mortal Kombat”, and gets out. So if you’re the kind of viewer who likes their gaming-based media to adhere as closely to the canon as a major studio could allow, it’s accomplished its objective. If, say, the excessive amount of dialogue in the 1995 live-action Street Fighter got under your skin (to be honest, I love that movie in an ironic sort of way- Zangief yelling “Quick! Change da channel!” still makes me crack up laughing), Mortal Kombat 2021 won’t let you down if all you want is the ass-kicking.
But I personally would have liked this movie to have maybe taken a few more risks. I mean, Detective Pikachu was immersive, but it used the Pokemon world to tell a unique crime story. The Sonic film had numerous nods to the original games, while also providing its own unique and fun elements, and took some time to build up Sonic’s character. Everyone in this new MK film acts like how you’d expect, and that’s both for better and for worse. Don’t expect to see any different sides of the cast than how you’d normally envision them while controlling them on the screen.
Asano’s Raiden is very much more game-accurate than before, but he plays it extremely straight, without that subtle wink towards the audience Christopher Lambert had. Sub-Zero is as brutal and ice-cold as he always is, and Kung Lao is a stern badass. Initially, Kano serves as the cranky comedic relief, almost to where he could be borderline lovable- but without spoiling anything, he does maintain his edge as a character.
Also, it’s nice to see Sonya maintain her agency this time, where the old movie just turned her into a damsel out of nowhere. The quadruple-armed fighter Goro (Angus Sampson) makes a cameo, but sadly he doesn’t have as much personality as before.
Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang is a supporting character this time, as opposed to Robin Shou’s Liu being the focus of the 1995 version, but he’s still endearing. Even though I didn’t dislike Cole, I wonder if this film could have switched the main role to him without changing too much.
As for Cole himself, he’s maybe a little more on the bland side when compared to the rest of the cast but the story is easily able to make him sympathetic, and his bond with his family serves as a good emotional link for the audience. His armor and tonfa sticks are badass, so I wouldn’t necessarily mind playing as him in an actual MK game.
Had the writers taken a bit more time here, I think there’s an exceptionally good Mortal Kombat film buried here somewhere, but because it’s so focused on getting in all the series tropes (characters randomly yell “Fatality!” and “flawless victory!”, but without Tagawa’s flair for the dramatic), as it stands it’s an okay-ish timewaster. I’d recommend it if you’re a die-hard fan of the series, and I’m not asking for an MK film to be an Oscar-worthy contender, but I can’t recall any moments between the cast that grabbed me as much as Robin Shou’s Liu Kang did while trying to avenge his brother.
Still, this is one of the more violent and visceral MK adaptions outside of the game’s story modes, so it easily wins out on that front. If you’d had the chance to watch it, let us know your thoughts on FAN’s social media as always!