Review of Mortal Kombat (2021) by Killagator — 23 Apr 2021

Let me start by saying I have loved Mortal Kombat most of my life. it was my first videogame ever. My favorite character was always Scorpion.

I had already expected to hate this movie, because it came to light that Johnny Cage was replaced by a Taven tier fan fiction character: Cole. It didn't help that heir reason for doing that was that they didn't want a white man saving the world. WTF that's racist as hell. Unfortunately, being prepared to hate the movie wasn't nearly enough. It was just an all around bad movie.

Cole was about as interesting as a plank of wood, as was everything centered around him, including the plot of him being a descendant of Scorpion. I couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity. The plot was a mess, the dialogue, pacing acting(while not entirely the actors fault) was a complete mess. A lot of characters get misused in this movie. Kung Lao died so Shang Tsung wouldn't be completely irrelevant. Jax was completely forgettable in this movie, the actor had no charisma, and the creators gave him minimal screen time, (Also he never said "Gotcha"). Liu Kang; the freaking hero of MK accomplished nothing the whole movie until he managed to beat Kabal. Not Goro, not Shang Tsung. Kabal. Kano was one of the only good parts of the movie. The actor seemed to have the time of his life portraying him, which made him that more fun to watch. Scorpion was in the movie for all of twenty minutes, which wouldn't be a problem if they utilized his screen time to its full potential. If you were excited for the inevitable clash between Scorpion and Sub Zero then you'll be disappointed because Scorpion needed help from discount Taven to help him beat the ice mage. I personally looked forward to their fight the most so I was incredibly let down.

Some of the good points of the movie. Kung Lao's complete annihilation of Nitara was one of the only completely satisfying moments in the whole movie. Sub Zero dominated the screen with every scene he was in. He felt like an intimidating antagonist that was worthy of respect, which was something I wished for the other villains. There were gags that only a gamer would understand, like constantly sweeping the leg of the opponent, or turtling and following it with an uppercut.

Another thing that might seem like a small change, but it's infuriating. Mileena's existence. She literally couldn't have been made without Kitana, and there was no mention of her. Not to mention they butchered Mileena's appearance ( she was black and hardly had any pink in her outfit.).

Ultimately this was a movie that did NOT need to be made, but since it was we as the fans deserved WAY better.