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Mortal Kombat Movie Review

Mortal Kombat is a 2021 martial arts fantasy film directed by Simon McQuoid and starring Lewis Tan among others. It’s an unexpectedly strong video game adaptation.

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“Get over here!“

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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. This movie was first and foremost made for the fans of the franchise as it very quickly explains its mythology, but for somebody like me who is briefly familiar with this universe, I still got what was going on and I appreciated the mythology as established here quite a bit. The movie doesn’t have the titular tournament, which was disappointing, but there is obviously going to be a sequel, so I am looking forward to the tournament there.

The characterization is rather slim for the most part, but it works because most people who are going to watch this film already know who these people. I wanted more agency from the characters and actors playing them, but these people are all super cool, so I’ve had no bigger qualms about their lack of stronger development. The larger problem is the acting, which is so-so as some are okay, but a couple of the actors are quite amateurish.

Lewis Tan is particularly unremarkable in the main role of Cole Young. This is a newly invented character for the franchise and he’s mostly okay with a memorable look and the actor is quite handsome, but his acting talent is non-existent unfortunately. He’s got the looks, but that wasn’t enough. Sonya Blade fares much better as the toughest female fighter here and all of her scenes were quite cool.

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Kano is terrific. Josh Lawson’s performance is by far the best one in the movie and he is so funny and charismatic. Kano is the biggest source of humor in the movie and it’s a shame that he turned to the dark side as I wanted more from him in the second half. Lord Raiden is very powerful and incredibly cool, but again the acting here is rather mediocre.

Of the other characters, Shang Tsung is very memorable as the leader of the villains. But the conflict between Scorpion and Sub-Zero is the core of the movie. It was gloriously established in that beautiful 17^th century opening that channeled wuxia films in unexpectedly arresting and intriguing fashion. Their final fight was stupendous and the characters are just very appealing as the two sides of the same coin. Their story is the best written of the bunch.

Mortal Kombat also looks terrific due to surprisingly outstanding VFX work with the elements on display all looking tremendous. The fights are uniformly amazingly choreographed with the right mix of pure fighting with superheroics and fantastical elements. The brutality made the movie edgier than most blockbusters today and highly memorable.

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The dialogue has the famous one-liners from the games, but they are mostly used sparingly. Couple that restrained and more grounded approach with the impressive imagery and a fantastic score and you’ve got a cinematic blockbuster that is best seen on the big screen and finally a worthy video game adaptation that isn’t a cheesy embarrassment by any stretch of the imagination.

Mortal Kombat really surprised me. The fights are superbly choreographed and uniformly super cool and entertaining to watch. The acting is weak and the characters are underwritten, but all very memorable in their abilities and looks with the highlights being Sub-Zero and Scorpion. The mythology here was well realized, the score and imagery are majestic, and thus the movie is a cinematic treat. This is by far one of the best video game adaptations out there as gone is the cheesiness and sloppiness that usually characterize these movies. What we’ve got here is simple, but highly effective. The movie is just damn cool, that’s all.

My Rating – 4