Editor: “Hey can you write this thing up about Mortal Kombat, a thing you like?”
Me: “Oh hey sure, not a problem, I’ll get to this today!”
Also me: Takes a week because I become absorbed into everything Mortal Kombat in the meantime.
We are in an epic era for fans of the Mortal Kombat franchise, as we are getting spoiled by the amount of love Warner Bros is showing in marketing this film, and the hype is real. People are diving back into the older games as well as the newest chapters in the ever-evolving battle for Earthrealm.
This video, released a week ago when I got this assignment, is the perfect example of how to generate hype. Back in the 90s, you’d get a 1-minute version at the tail end of Entertainment Tonight.
The video mostly shows more of the fight scenes we have already gotten hints of in the previous trailer. The interesting thing about these specific clips is they focus on reminding fans of the games how accurate they are being when it comes to special moves and finishers. Seeing Sonya’s Energy Ring/Ring Toss ability in gorgeous pink CGI is pretty impressive, same with Kano’s eye beam.
In the meantime, I had been jamming out to the original Mortal Kombat soundtrack that everyone knows and loves. (As I write this, I am listening to Control by Traci Lords and doing my best to not jam out too much, I am in a rolling chair after all.) In an earlier piece about Mortal Kombat, I brought up concerns of the music used in the trailer being a slow-jam rendition of the famous Mortal Kombat theme. Warner Bros has heard my concern and released the new version of the Techno Syndrome theme ahead of the film.
After the first listen to the track I was not impressed. We get the fighter names, we get screams of “MORTAL KOMBAT!”, and we get some dubstep. Then I listened again and I gotta say it makes perfect sense. The music of the original film was rooted firmly in what was recently popular in the early/mid-1990’s dance scene with industrial, EDM, House, Trance, and Rock leading the charge. This theme is simply updated with what is (was?) popular recently in dance music. I am hoping we get more when the film actually releases, as this kind of music lends itself perfectly to the vibe of a fighting video game movie. Consider me corrected, as this works.
The film was recently delayed a week from the original release date of April 16th to April 23rd in the United States. This is slightly disappointing because we need to wait an additional week, but mostly because it messes up my birthday plans. Ah well, I will just have to re-watch Mortal Kombat Annihilation again in the meantime and write about it for you fine folks.
