Details from IMDB:
Mortal Kombat
MMA fighter Cole Young seeks out Earth’s greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe.
Initial Thoughts:
I’m old enough to have not only seen the original movie, in theatres, when it came out in 1995, but also to have played the first video game, and yes, Nintendo really did change the blood to gray sweat! The first movie is… well, I’d only recommend watching it ironically or perhaps very stoned, but this one looked like fun, and with the second one out soon, I thought it was time to finally see this one from 2021.
Main Points:
I’ll say right off the bat, the plot here is threadbare/barely makes any sense, but really, what did you expect? It’s based on a video game that really didn’t have much story to start with, and I only cared about getting to the next fight scene, of which there are plenty. All that said, I never played all the MK games, I think the first 3, and I never saw the many live-action and animated movies that came afterwards, so I’m sure there is lots of lore I’m missing out on. I’ve been home, sick a lot this week, so while I’m sure this movie would have been better stoned, I had fun with it sober as well. Lots of action, pretty good special effects, and they get in all the good lines from the game, along with some truly gruesome fatalities. Within the first 5 minutes, I could tell that any plot was just a way to pass the time until the next fight, so I barely cared about it. The fight scenes are good, and I enjoyed the origin story of Sub-Zero at the start (though that could have used a little more explaining). The only thing I could come up with is that a Chinese warrior wanted to kill a Japanese Samurai/Ninja and wipe out his family for kicks.
Final Thoughts:
This movie is an exercise in action-movie tropes, but with all that said, there is a surprise I didn’t quite see coming. Also, pay attention to the movie poster at the end to see who’ll be in Mortal Kombat II. I think all of the actors here did the best they could, but I would have enjoyed a little more development and a plot which made a bit more sense. There is no tournament, just a series of fights until enough of one side is “dead” (which often doesn’t mean much here) for there to be a pause. I give this 6 out of 10 and a mild recommendation to anyone who enjoys a fun, action-packed, fairly gruesome video game-based action movie. Tons of coarse language and extreme gore/blood mean ages 19+; please don’t let your kids watch this. While I’m not sure if I’ll see the second one in theatres, I’ll certainly check it out after seeing this.