Review of Mortal Kombat (2021) by Player2-Water — 01 May 2021

E-Value: 7.

Acting: 8.

Plot: 5.

After the disastrous box office bomb and critical flopped of 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, there were no Mortal Kombat movies for nearly two decades until the direct-to-video release of 2020’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge and this movie. As for this movie, it is a reboot and not connected to the first two movies. Unlike the first two movies and just like Scorpion’s Revenge, the reboot is rated R.

An MMA fighter named Cole Young (Tan) and his family are attack by Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Taslim) but Special Forces Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs and his partner, Sonya Blade (McNamee), manage to rescue them in time. Jax stay behind while he fight Sub-Zero but he end up losing both his arms. Once Cole got his family to safety, he and Sonya go to her hideout.

At her hideout, he learn that about a deathmatch tournament called Mortal Kombat. The tournament was created to give Earthrealm a chance to defend themselves from Outworld. Now that the latter have won nine out of ten tournaments, they just need to win one more tournament so that they can invade Earthrealm legally.

Cole also learn that he has a dragon marking which means he has been chosen to represent Earthrealm in the upcoming tournament. Cole and Sonya reluctantly recruit an Australian mercenary, Kano, after being attacked by Reptile. Together, they travel to Raiden’s temple where they meet the other fighters, Liu Kang and Kung Lao, in order to be train for the tournament. Meanwhile, a soul-eating sorcerer, Shang Tsung, with the help from his minions have begin killing Earthrealm’s fighters with dragon marking before the next tournament starts.

First of all, I’ve got to say that this reboot is good. It is definitely much better than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Not only it is much better, the movie is faithful to the source material. The movie cashed in on the rated R and the inclusion of the franchise’s iconic signature, Fatality. This is what Mortal Kombat should be. Full of bloody, gore and violence like the video games which the first two movies do not have due to those movies being rated PG-13. The fighting scenes are really well done and much better than the previous movies. It is so well shot that it feels you are watching cutscenes from Mortal Kombat video games.

The characters in the movie resemble the characters from the video game which is another reason why this movie is faithful to the source material. The acting in this movie great especially Joe Taslim and Josh Lawson. For the former, he played the character very well as an intimidating villain like he is the main antagonist of the movie instead of Shang Tsung. As for the latter, he is perfect for the role of Kano, Besides sharing the same nationality, Josh is very much as Australian person you could find in real life. He is also played the role of comic relief really well which I cannot stop laughing. He stole every scenes in the movie. Let’s not forget about Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion in the movie. Despite not having much screen time, he played the character very well and he even get to say his iconic catchphrase better than how he said it in the trailer. I hope to see him more and play bigger role in the sequel if there is one.

On the bad side of the movie, I felt the storyline in the movie is rushed. Because of that, some characters do not have much developement including Cole Young. Speaking of Cole, I felt that he was overshadowed by the other characters to the point of being forgettable due to Cole being movie exclusive character. Shang Tsung did not even have much screen time as the main antagonist and the role was pretty much took over by Sub-Zero.

Nevertheless, this movie is still good but neither the best nor worst video game movie. As far as I know, this movie is definitely much better than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation which I have said earlier. Whether you think is movie is better than the 1995 movie or the other way around, is up for debate. If you are a fan of Mortal Kombat, don’t miss this one. I cannot wait for the sequel especially how the ending teases another famous and iconic character from the video game.