Mortal Kombat (2021 Review)
Mortal Kombat Isn’t A Flawless Victory, But Offers Lots of Fatalities.
One of the biggest and bloodiest video game franchises of all time is taking another crack at the big screen with the 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat. As gamers are probably aware, adaptations of their favorite games often leave a lot to be desired. In fact, I would say the vast majority of video-game adaptations are awful. Fortunately, Mortal Kombat isn’t that bad at all. Of course, considering it’s based on a series in which mortals, gods, and weird monster people are pitted in fights to the death to determine the fate of the world, the bar wasn’t exactly set high. That said, there’s still a lot that can go wrong with what might seem like a relatively simple plot (see Mortal Kombat: Annihilation). Mortal Kombat leans into what fans love most about the series with a hard R-rating, a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, and some good old-fashioned fatalities. In the end, it proves to be a fun, albeit mindless, beat-em-up flick.
Mortal Kombat unleashes the most brutal and most ridiculous fighting tournament ever conceived to the big screen. It’s your standard good vs evil determining the fate of the world by trading punches until one of them falls over. Toss in some mystical powers and that’s pretty much all you really need to know. Mortal Kombat collects some impressive actors to trade punches, with rising action hero Lewis Tan as both protagonist and original character, Cole Young. An attack by the villainous Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), reveals that there’s something special about him, and he joins up with ultra-soldier Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to find out just what’s going on. Turns out, he’s one of Earth’s chosen combatants to defend humanity against the absurdly evil malcontents of… Otherworld? Yep, Otherworld. As you can probably tell, Mortal Kombat isn’t exactly high art, but it’s a brutally good time.
Creating a new character for the story to center around was an excellent idea because Lewis Tan’s Cole Young allowed for cleaner exposition over the course of the film. He’s just a washed-out MMA fighter who finds himself thrust into a world of super-powered pugilists. So, it makes sense that those in the know would need to catch him up on everything. Luckily, time is short, so they never really go into too much detail, which is probably for the best considering the premise is pretty flimsy. Instead, writers Dave Callahan and Greg Russo focus on the characters that fans have come to know and love over the years. The source material for them doesn’t offer too much to work with outside of up, down, left, right, left… You get the idea. So, they got a bit of a reboot of their own to make them a little more cinematic. Unfortunately, that proves to be a strength and weakness. Including so many characters makes it a little difficult to give them all the attention they need. Logic dictates that attention goes to the heroes, but that means they don’t have worthy villains to overcome.
I can be a bit of a snob with big-screen brawls. Nothing bugs me more than seeing an actor who couldn’t take the time to learn to throw a proper-looking punch trying to convince audiences they know how to fight. Mortal Kombat really doesn’t have that issue, though a few actors clearly shine a bit brighter thanks to their martial arts backgrounds. Joe Taslim, Max Huang, Lewis Tan, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Ludi Lin spring most readily to mind, but I actually found Jessica McNamee to be convincing enough that I smell action stardom in her future (though I will say Sonya Blade is a poorly written character). As for the fights themselves, their choreography was pretty straightforward, relying more on special powered spectacle than particularly impressive skills. Then there’s also the fact that most of the brawls end with one fighter a bloody pulp with several limbs bent the wrong way. There are some impressively gory sequences in this film and I do not recommend it for the faint of heart. Others might find it to be just the right amount of ridiculous to cheer with glee, like spectators at the colosseum. I certainly did at parts.
It might sound dismissive, but Mortal Kombat is a film that was made for fans of the games. Director Simon McQuoid could probably care less what critics might think of his directorial debut but doesn’t spite them. Instead, he’s more eager to create a solid foundation for a potential franchise of blood-soaked, fatality-filled films. I have to give him credit for succeeding in that regard. Sure, Mortal Kombat is “bad”, but in the same way the old school games were. He captured the spirit of the source material, which means plenty of replay value. At the same time, Mortal Kombat never commits any unforgivable movie sins other than being a bit eye-rolling at times. It’s just mindless fun and an appropriate prelude to the summer blockbuster season.
Mortal Kombat is not a film that will stand up to scrutiny. The whole mystical martial arts tournament for the fate of humanity is very Saturday morning cartoon, but at least the film is self-aware enough to recognize that. That consciousness allows it to have characters stop just shy of winking at the camera as they recite cringey-yet-nostalgic catchphrases from the video game. Josh Lawson’s Kano was especially fun in a love to hate him kind of way. The point is that this is a movie that speaks to that kid who used to get up early on Saturdays to watch those mind-numbing cartoons. Now that I think about it, a bowl full of sugary cereal would probably go perfectly with this popcorn flick. Temper your expectations to the same level you had back in those days and you’ll get a kick out of Mortal Kombat. I’d never argue that it’s a good movie, but it’s pretty fun.
