Warner Brothers generated a lot of excitement last year when they announced a slate of films that would be premiering on HBO Max alongside their theatrical release. In addition to big-budget blockbusters like Wonder Woman 1984 and Godzilla vs Kong were smaller films like Judas and the Black Messiah. But one of the films was that long awaited, love-action reboot of the popular 1990s franchise, Mortal Kombat. It had been 24 years since a Mortal Kombat film had seen a theatrical release, and after the latest movie spent almost a decade in development hell, fans were champing at the bit for a fix. But was the wait worth it?
Mortal Kombat was written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham. Russo is a newcomer to the film industry, with MK being his very first writing credit. Normally, this would be a frightening thing for a fan, but Russo’s green-ness is balanced by Callaham, who has big-name projects like Godzilla, the Expendables trilogy, and Wonder Woman 1984 under his belt. While one may bring fresh ideas, the other is there to flesh them out and make them palatable, and it works.
Unfortunately, the film also relies on another newcomer to the game in director Simon McQuoid. McQuoid (whose name is admittedly fun to say) is an Australian director who has previously only worked on commercials. His saving grace, though, is that he is an award-winning commercial director, which at least speaks to some talent behind the camera. And, again admittedly, he does have talent. Being able to film fight scenes that are easy to follow is difficult, and McQuoid manages to pull that off. Multiple times, in fact. Though the rest of his vision is best described as “static,” he at least gets the point across, even if the film lacks dynamism of a more talented filmmaker.
One of the main draws of Mortal Kombat is its wide stable of characters. Spanning 25 years and with over ten iterations in the video game franchise, there are a plethora of characters available on which to base the film. Smartly, the filmmakers chose the most popular characters, like Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Jax, as well as the characters on whom the lore relies, like Raiden and Shang Tsung. But they also peppered the film with characters who added interesting elements, like the four-armed Prince Goro and razor-toothed Mileena. Most of these characters get little backstory for as much time they spend on screen and are used mostly as vehicles for special effects and gore. Which is fine; that’s what “Mortal Kombat” is. Hell, I don’t even think the first game had a story; I was always too caught up in tearing my opponent’s head off.
Unfortunately, the main characters don’t get much exposition either. Sonya Blade is military special forces. Jax served six tours. Kano is the Black Dragon, whatever that means. Even Raiden, the lightning god, does very little besides making sure both sides adhere to the rules of Mortal Kombat. And that brings us to Cole Young.
If you’re unfamiliar with Cole Young in the Mortal Kombat mythos, don’t worry. He is a new character for the 2021 film meant to bridge the gap between fans of the source material and new viewers. As far as a character goes, he’s fairly flat. We get a peek at his life before the tournament, as a mediocre fighter who has a good relationship with his wife and daughter. Even as he’s presented with the chance to save the world, he turns his back on it, the classic trope of “refusal of the call” in the Hero’s Journey. Even when he gains his arcana (I get more into that later), it’s bland. Given the staple of character available to the writers, it’s a weird choice to go with a middling main character like Cole, but it all works out in the end.
All of this is fine, because at its core, Mortal Kombat is the story of the feud between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. The film opens on a flashback in which Sub-Zero (then known as Bi-Han) kills Scorpion’s (née Hanzo Hashasi) family, before finally doing them in. Hanzo fights with supranatural talent; he is more skilled than a normal man, but all of his abilities seem human. Bi-Han, on the other hand, can control ice. We don’t know how he has these powers, and it’s never explained. Is this battle part of an early Mortal Kombat? I don’t know!
Unlike its predecessors, with their weak PG-13 ratings, the new Mortal Kombat knows what its fans want to see. It’s violent and bloody and doesn’t hold back on the hits, exactly like its source material. The fighters use their powers to eviscerate their opponents, severing hands, shattering limbs, and exploding heads. And very little of it is done tongue-in-cheek; the brutality is treated with all seriousness, as if this is how each battle should be fought.
But that’s not to say the film ignores all the fan service. There’s plenty of that here. Many of the catchphrases are present in one way or another, like Kung Lao saying, “Flawless Victory,” or Kano announcing, “Kano wins” after pulling out his opponent’s heart. Many of the characters perform their signature moves, like the previous mentioned heart-pulling, which Kano’s finishing move, or “Fatality,” from the games to Liu Kang doing his famous bicycle kicks. The filmmakers even managed to integrate the Animalities, a finishing move introduced in “Mortal Kombat 3,” and handled it with much more tact than when they appeared in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. There’s plenty of winks to the fans in the latest Mortal Kombat, so much so that I probably even missed many of them.
There’s much more story to the latest Mortal Kombat than the two preceding movies, and though some people would disagree, I think it’s a good thing. The film still focuses on the idea of Mortal Kombat the tournament and that Outworld only needs to win one more before it can invade Earthrealm. But the 2021 film concentrates more on the training than the tournament itself. Each of the Earthrealm fighters, like Jax, Kano, and Cole, are learning about the tournament for the first time and must train in order to compete. Part of the training involves earning their “arcana,” that special ability that sets them apart (and also imbues them with a bloody viciousness in battle). Most of the second act involves the cast training, looking into themselves, and learning. This has the unfortunate effect of slowing down the pace of the film, making it feel much longer than its actual 110-minute runtime. However, it strengthens the narrative.
At the end of it, the latest Mortal Kombat film is the best Mortal Kombat film so far, but that’s not high praise. As far as action movies go, it offers a lot of tropes and is extremely formulaic, but it’s still an enjoyable watch. As far as martial arts movies go, there are far better, far bloodier movies out there, if that’s what you’re looking for, but Mortal Kombat is a good change of pace. It manages to find a balance between action and martial arts, and even maintains a fairly decent story as well.
And don’t worry about a sequel. It definitely sets one up. There’s still plenty of resources to mine in the “Mortal Kombat” lore, and I’m sure Warner Brothers has the pickaxes ready.
Mortal Kombat stars Lewis Tan (Deadpool 2), Jessica McNamee (The Meg), Josh Lawson (Superstore), and Mehcad Brooks (Supergirl, True Blood), and is currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through May 23. (But if you don’t have HBO Max and won’t be going to a theater any time soon, you can still watch the first 7 minutes of the film for free!)
