22 Apr Mortal Kombat Review

MORTAL KOMBAT

dir. Simon McQuoid, starring Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, et al

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.

Back in 1995, fans of Mortal Kombat were treated to an adaptation that was equal parts absurd, wonderful, cheesy, and surprisingly well done. There was respect for the games the movie was adapted from, the actors seemed to genuinely enjoy portraying these characters, and while the effects were limited to the technology of their time, some still decently hold up. Most of all, the story was clear, concise, and well presented. Skipping over its sequel (the less spoken about it, the better) we arrive 26 years later at an attempt to reboot the franchise for a new audience. Unfortunately, the reboot does not hold a candle to the original.

Back in ancient times, the Elder Gods divided reality into a number of separate realms. One realm could not encroach upon any other unless by defeating that realm in ten straight victories of Mortal Kombat. In the present day, Outworld has bested Earth in nine such victories and stands poised on the precipice of a tenth. To best hedge his bets, the villainous Shang Tsung, one of Mortal Kombat’s best bad guys ever, has concocted a plan to ambush the fighters of Earth before the tournament, thereby ensuring him cake walk to a tenth and final victory. The only thing standing in his way are a handful of fighters and prophecy that the descendent of Hanzo Hasashi will unite the fighters against Tsung.

The story is there. There characters are there, spread across many iterations of the fighting game. The fight scenes are ok and the level of gore that players have come to expect from the Mortal Kombat franchise is on display front and center to give it its earned R-rating. Unfortunately, buckets of bloods and larger buckets of ill-placed profanities are not enough to save what amounts to a lackluster film that leans heavy into the fight scenes and skimps on actual plot. The reliance on action to carry the film while using a shoestring thin plot to cobble the fight scenes together serves to be the ultimate fatality of this attempt at a reboot.

Acting wise, outside of Hiroyuki Sanada (who’s been one of Japan’s finest actors for decades) and possibly Tadanobu Asano, the ensemble cast is either passable or completely falls flat. Lewis Tan as Cole Young serves as our entry into this story; we as the audience learn about the worldbuilding as Cole learns. The decision to use a brand new character instead of choosing one from the 18 games currently published is a confusing one. Regardless, Tan is serviceable as the lead of the film, hitting his marks and saying his lines with just enough enthusiasm to make it count. Jessica McNamee appears as Sonya Blade, one of the original staples of the franchise. Unfortunately, McNamee is given almost nothing to work with here: weak dialogue and poorly handled development hamper her as she spends the majority of the film as an outsider looking in. Continuing on the theme of poorly handled development, every female character in Mortal Kombat is a thin, one-note person, with either little or no dialogue of their own. Mileena is given possibly three lines while Nitara has none I can recall. Cole’s wife Alison has a little more to work with, but not before being kidnapped and held as bait. The term “fridging” is taken to incredibly absurd heights here as Cole’s wife and daughter are quite literally fridged by Sub-Zero. As far as the rest of the cast, Mechad Brooks as Jax is given little development and Josh Lawson as Kano (the supposed comedic relief who’s so poorly handled the comedy is unintentional) is just plain badly written. The actors do what they can but the screenplay from Greg Russo and Dave Callaham is a dull affair.

As for the villains, Shang Tsung’s plan to stop the tournament from ever happening by ambushing the heroes before it’s time is a sound one as far as bad guys go; villains don’t have to play by the rules. Unfortunately, other than that, Tsung is a fairly ineffectual antagonist. This isn’t due to Chin Han’s performance, but yet again another failing in the script and tepid direction of the film. Shang Tsung is relegated to nothing more than barking orders and looking menacing on screen. Not once does he fight or give us cause to respect his villainy; in the end he’s about as worthwhile or effective as Supreme Leader Snoke. The rest of Tsung’s crew, to include Reiko, Kabal, and fan favorite Goro, don’t have much to do except show up for fight scenes. Ultimately, Shang Tsung’s decent scheme is kneecapped by the writer’s inability to give him weight and menace.

Mortal Kombat also suffers under the direction of Simon McQuoid. After a great initial scene that establishes some back story and the relationship between fan favorites Sub Zero and Scorpion, the rest of the movie falls flat. From what we get in the opening scene, a better film possibly lies in the Edo-era feud between the two ninjas and their respective clans. Unfortunately, once we reach present day, the direction becomes a fairly standard fare. The film follows the classic three act structure: introduction of the characters, various training scenes and initial pitfalls, and unifying to defeat Shang Tsung’s forces. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with following the three act structure (stories have been doing this for centuries), the paint-by-numbers execution shows a clear lack of flair or originality.

Also, for a game that’s solely based on a tournament for the soul of Earth, there isn’t even a tournament. If the sequel is where we find the tournament, there’s umbrage there as well; a movie should not exist solely to set up a sequel. That was the major downfall of Avengers: Age of Ultron and it’s the downfall here. Mortal Kombat should be able to stand on its own while offering a possibility to return to the world. This felt like that exact opposite: serving for nothing but setup while faltering under its own weight.

Overall, Mortal Kombat firmly carries on with the tradition of failed video game adaptations. One would expect the focus of the movie, given its source material, to center on amazing, intricate fight choreography, but even that is marred by choppy editing and uninspired direction. The story packaged around the fight scenes also leaves plenty to be desired, choosing to center its focus on an unknown character. A stale plot, bland villain, suspect fight scenes, and mistreatment of the characters leaves plenty to be desired when the film reaches the end credits. The setup for a sequel is painfully obvious, and with enough of a push, I’m hoping said sequel approaches the characters and action with more respect than was shown in this initial outing. This is, at best, a Saturday afternoon movie to check in on from time to time while cleaning your house. Mortal Kombat can be found in theaters or on HBO Max April 23rd.