Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on HBO Max Until May 23 WARNING: Possible Spoilers! MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) loves what he does, but isn’t having the best of luck. He isn’t able to keep up the winning streak he used to have, even though his wife and daughter still believe in his skills. But just when he seems to be giving up on himself, he is called upon to participate in a battle older than any recorded history; one that goes beyond the borders of our own dimension. This tournament, known as Mortal Kombat, is a violent competition where champions between our world and a dimension known as Outworld fight to the death. If Earth loses the next battle, then the forces of Outworld will be aloud to conquer it. Cole is only the latest in a collection of warriors from around the world, all barring the same dragon marking that grants them special powers. They’ll have to work together to discover their true potential and protect the world from the evils of Outworld. On the surface, this new theatrical adaptation of the iconic Mortal Kombat video game series has all the same clichés found in most modern blockbusters, especially ones that are meant to start their own franchises. This new film is pretty much a feature-length setup for future films, spending its runtime introducing us to the characters and ending with a very obvious cliffhanger leading to the next installment. Once again, it’s a movie that was made with the mentality that the studio cares more about what’s next then what’s happening right now. You would think that, because of this, this would be another movie that I give a pass to. After all, there’s no current movie cliché I hate more than egregious sequel setup. However, despite this, I still found myself enjoying the overall ride. The new Mortal Kombat continues to represent the higher levels of effort studios are finally putting into video game adaptations. Rather than phoning it in right at the start of production, it’s clear that director Simon McQuoid and his team have a real love for the property and truly tried to make this the best film they could. Don’t get me wrong, it still doesn’t get anywhere close to being a great, or even good, film. At most, it’s a dumb action film that you can have fun with if you’re willing to shut your brain off and enjoy the blood-splatter. If you can’t, then you’ll be forced to go through things like mediocre performances, clunky expositional dialogue, and a very barebones story that only follows the most basic script structure. Luckily, it makes up for this with some really fun action scenes. Right from the start, the film embraces the more violent nature of the games with an opening fight set in 17th-century Japan. The battle is very bloody with swords cutting off limbs, harpoons firing through heads, and many other forms of dismemberment. It’s this kind of violence that punctuates the majority of the film’s action. And that’s what makes it so fun. Whether you like graphic violence or not, the blood sure helps to make these scenes fun. There are some times when it still feels like it’s not taking full advantage of the violence, even when there’s a scene where a character is cut clean in half. The truly graphic scenes are surprisingly few and far between, making it feel like they’re playing it safe even while trying to be more faithful to the games. Overall, it’s a movie that feels conflicted about its own identity. It wants to be a sleek and serious modern blockbuster, while at the same time still tap into the 80s/90s campiness of the game series. The film switches back and forth between these tones usually at inappropriate times, but ends up being enough of both to achieve that cheesy flair without dipping far enough into stupidity that it ruins the overall fun. Mortal Kombat is exactly what you would expect it to be; a modern franchise starter that, much like the games that inspired it, cares more about its gimmick than its potential. But thankfully, it embraces that gimmick enough that it manages to mostly outshine its flaws and become a stupid fun action film. And frankly, for a movie based on a video game that I know very little about, that’s good enough for me.
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