Review Tuesday: Mortal Kombat (2021)

 

Mortal Kombat

Earth-realm's best fighters must defeat those of the realm of the Outworld to prevent an invasion.

I have been a fan of Mortal Kombat for years. Ever since the first time that I saw Sub-Zero's fatality move in the arcade, I drawn to the cleverness and creativity of this fighting game. During the 90s, at the height of MK's popularity they out out a couple movies. I vaguely remember the first, but recall that it was entertaining, albeit crude. Whatever films that came afterwards have no place in my memory at all.

 

More recently my awareness for MK returned with the mobile game for mobile devices which I have been playing steadily since it came out. So I was more than a little surprised to hear that a new movie based on the game was coming out in 2021. I mean, there were only the faintest of whispers that this project was even being worked on, then it was announced to have an April release date?!?! 

Approaching the release date, word had it that MORTAL KOMBAT was going to be more like a traditional martial arts film. It was also said that it was going to include some fatalities and earned a solid R rating due to violence. Okay, I am interested!

The concept of the movie is that a select group of fighters must fight to defend the earth-realm. However, the underlying theme is a centuries long blood feud between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. I was fine with that, except for the part that Sub-Zero is a brutal, remorseless villain. 

 

AND THAT'S AS CLOSE AS I AM GETTING TO SPOILERS. 

 

The movie truly is very much like the traditional martial arts films. You have people battling it out to protect their village from outsiders, usually some have special abilities and/or weapons and sometimes there's a revenge motive. Of course, there is plenty of blood. This movie certainly has all that, plus it has good acting, and amazing special effects. The cast is very good. The action scenes are fun. And did I mention the special effects? If you are familiar with the world of MK, you know full well there are some really fun and wild looking characters. A good number of them show up in this film and they look pretty good. I mean, at least Prince Goro doesn't look like a muppet this time around! 

 

If you are a fan of martial arts films or Mortal Kombat, you'll probably really like this movie! 

In theaters and HBO+ NOW! 

 

More on IMDB