Mortal Kombat (2021) Review

Mortal Kombat was one of the great video game franchises from the ‘90s. It was considered ground-breaking because of its violence and digitalised graphics and turned many into lovable psychopaths, including me. It has now been adapted for a second time with the 2021 film.

Earthrealm is in danger: Outworld has won the last nine Mortal Kombat tournaments and if they win one more time, they can conquer Earthrealm. However, there is a prophecy that the descendent of Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) will prevent Outworld’s victory. Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a down on his luck cage fighter, is that descendant. To tilt the odds in Outworld’s favour, the sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) sends his warriors to find and kill Earthrealm’s champions and kill them before the tournament begins.

The 2021 version of Mortal Kombat had to face two major hurdles. The first was the reputation of movies based on video games has been less than stellar. The second was the 1995 film has a cult following and it has been regarding as one of the best video game movies. However, fans of the 1995 film were disappointed that it was PG-13 and the 1997 follow-up was a critical and commercial disaster.

Mortal Kombat (2021) did start off with a lot of promise. It started with a prologue in 17th century Japan with Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) and Hanzo Hasashi fighting each other. I was grinning like an idiot during the first action sequence because of all the blood and gore as Hanzo used a rope with a blade at the end. It helped that this sequence was performed by a physical actor from Japan and a skilled martial artist. It set a high standard for the action.

Sadly the rest of the action was a mixed bag. Some of the fights were well done like Jax (Mehcad Brooks) against Sub-Zero and the final fight, but others were over-edited and made them hard to follow. The worst of them was the fight between Sonya (Jessica McNamee) and Kano (Josh Lawson).

Mortal Kombat (2021) had a pulpy, B-Movie quality to it, like ninja movies from the 1980s. This was hardly surprising because the games were influenced by films like Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport. For gorehounds there was a great moment when one character got to use a fatality move. There was a gleeful cheesiness when the film quoted famous lines from games like ‘finish them’ and ‘get over here.’

Whilst Mortal Kombat (2021) was wonderfully violent it was also immature. The dialogue was even worse. Some characters swore so much that it seemed their parts were written by a 12-year-old. Kano was an Australian mercenary, spoke with such a broad accent and swore so much that it looked like the filmmakers cast the Youtube comedian Ozzy Man. Kano was a massive stereotype so it was even more amazing to think that the actor was Australian, the film was directed and produced by Australians and the film was shot in Australia.

The character of Kable (Damon Herriman) was really annoying. He was constantly making jokes and one-liners when he appeared. He felt out of place because the film treated its story and mythology seriously. Nor did it help that Kable’s dialogue wasn’t funny.

The central idea of the Mortal Kombat games was the fighters were competing in a tournament and the film was building up to the tournament. However, there was no tournament in the film. The film focused on the Earthrealm combatants learning to unlock their arcana (their special moves). This was similar to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li where Chun-Li had to learn about using supernatural powers and teases about a tournament for a sequel. Considering the reputation of the second live-action Street Fighter movie these comparisons don’t bode well for Mortal Kombat (2021).

Mortal Kombat (2021) was at its best when it offered some bloody fun and had a silly B-Movie charm to it. Fans of the games will appreciate the Easter Eggs throughout the film.