The hotly anticipated film for video game fans everywhere will satisfy some but will mostly leave a feeling of disappointment as it ultimately falls short.
Mortal Kombat. We know the story, we’ve played the games countless times, even when Mum said not to (man, what a childhood), and we have also had to punish ourselves by watching the previous instalments. So, estimations were high when a reboot of the series was announced. Lewis Tan stars as Cole Young, an MMA fighter who is hunted by the infamous warrior Sub-Zero (played by martial arts actor Joe Taslim) which forces him to seek out the Earth’s greatest fighters so they can stand against their enemies of the Outworld – in a battle to the death. What a plot right? No, it is drivel. It still felt like a B movie (like its predecessors) with slightly better special effects, and I mean slightly.
Director Simon McQuoid (with his previous work revolving around commercials) struggles to make the film what he and everyone else were aiming for; the characters were very one dimensional, and there were no character origins or development – something that could have developed the film tenfold. The thing that bugged me the most though were the action and fight scenes, very plain and slow to say the least. I mean, this is Mortal Kombat, we expect a barrage of over-the-top violence and epic fight scenes, something it was lacking throughout the film (except for one or two head splitting moments, you’ll know them when you see them). There are a couple of decent fight scenes – at the beginning and towards the end – but overall, it is quite pedestrian. There are only a handful of decent fatalities as well, come on now.
Mortal Kombat begins in 17th century Japan with legendary ninja Hanzo Hasashi (played by Hiroyuki Sanada) who’s clan is attacked by a rival clan, lead by equally famed assassin Bi Han or Sub-Zero to you and me. Sub-Zero kills Hanzo’s wife and son, before embarking on an epic battle to the death with Hanzo, sending Hanzo’s soul to the Netherrealm. In the present day, the Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in the last 9 tournaments – with 10 making it goodbye Earthrealm and hello to an inconvenient conquering. Cole Young, the unbeknownst chosen one (as well as being the blandest primary character I have ever seen in an action film) must fight in the “Mortal Kombat” tournament with the help of some of Earth’s greatest warriors. With the journey to a sacred temple resulting in some skirmishes along the way – including a fight with an invisible lizard.
With Earth’s mightiest warriors now training for the grand tournament of doom, each of them needing to awaken their inner potentials and obtain a few handy new superpowers – some a lot cooler than others, I’m looking at you Cole Young. With the battle looming in the distance, there is still some treachery to be dealt with that has the potential to turn everything on its head. There should also be a mention for Kano (Josh Lawson) who is by far the best character and carried the film with his outlandish behaviour and quick wit, something that everyone else is severely lacking. It isn’t all doom and gloom though, a sequel could very well be in the offing (the joys) as we haven’t even been treated to the main man himself, Johnny Cage. The most popular character in the series, hopefully he can ignite some life into the next film, so there is that to look forward to at least.
The newest Mortal Kombat is at least an improvement on the original and its successors, but a lot of time has passed since then, so it is to be expected. A bigger budget, better special effects (slightly) will always make a film such as this an improvement than one from 26 years ago. Since the original though, films involving superpowered teams have been frequent and successful, and this feels like a young child who is desperately trying to keep up with its older cousins and falling flat on its face in the process. Disappointing – as most films that are based around video games are – we can only cross our fingers that if a sequel does come out, it learns from its mistakes and builds on it, offering us the Mortal Kombat film we have always wanted.
Available to watch on HBO Max and can be rented from Amazon Prime now.
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