Movie Review - Mortal Kombat

Director: Simon McQuoid
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Mehcad Brooks, Matilda Kimber, Laura Brent, Tadanobu Asano, Hioyuki Sanada, Chin Han, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Sisi Stringer, Mel Jarnson, Nathan Jones, Daniel Nelson, Ian Streetz, Yukiko Shinohara

Description: MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) seeks out Earth’s greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.

Review: As a fan of the 1995 film and the video games, I was eagerly awaiting the release of “Mortal Kombat”. A reboot of the franchise, which was announced in 2019, but due to Covid only appeared in cinemas in the US. I was lucky enough to see it at home.
Led by the evil wizard Shang Tsung, the enemies of Outworld are gearing up for battle against the warriors of Earth. They need only one more victory to seize control of Earth. Lord Raiden and his fighters are preparing for the all-decisive tournament. Together with Liu Kang and Kung Lao, he gathers the world’s best fighters to bring Outworld’s formidable opponents to a standstill.  
When announcing the new “Mortal Kombat” movie, the makes promised that it would be a spectacular and gory action movie and that’s what we got. Already from the first scene (which is amazing), the tone is set to what kind of film we get to see. The high tempo is maintained and one after the other brutal confrontation between the warriors of Outworld and Earth follows in rapid succession.
In that respect, we have nothing to complain about. The special effects are also convincing. The fight scenes are good and well-choreographed. The way they were edited aren’t always pleasant to watch though. There is hardly a wide shot, it’s cut from one angle to the next.
The characters of Kano and especially Subzero are the ones that stand out the most. They are true scene stealers. The four-armed creature Goro gets a thankless role, where it could have been spectacular. He has one epic fight and that’s it. I wanted to see more. The storyline between enemies Subzero and Scorpion is the best in the film. And that fight scene between them towards the end is the best of them all.
“Mortal Kombat” succeeds when it comes to being a good action film with bombastic elements. But the film is mostly an entertaining popcorn flick. And don’t be disappointed if you didn’t see your favorite character from the games. They hint at a sequel, where you can probably see them.

Rating: 3 / 5