It’s common knowledge the road to adapting a faithful and satisfying videogame to cinematic form has been a rocky one. 1995’s ‘Mortal Kombat’, an adaptation of the globally loved beat-em-up, is one of the more successful (and fun) transitions from game to screen that, while it may lack the game’s infamous penchant for graphic violence, makes up for it with faithful character designs, lots of crunchy action, a game cast and a banging theme tune. 2021’s ‘Mortal Kombat’, meanwhile, certainly brings the gore and violence missing from the 1995 flick but forgets two important ingredients for a wholly successful ‘Mortal Kombat’ adaptation: a sense of fun and the actual tournament.
Gifted fighters from around the globe, all marked with a specific tattoo (that signifies they are imbued with power – the arcana!), unite and train under the guidance of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano). His intention is to unite Earth’s mightiest fighters to take on and defeat an evil general of Outworld, Shang Tsung (Chin Han), and his bevy of monstrous fighters in the deadly tournament of Mortal Kombat. Thrown into the mix is MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan), who doesn’t bear the symbol/tattoo of Raiden’s other chosen warriors but is believed to harness the arcana needed to fight and defeat Shang Tsung’s warriors.
While this latest version renders the characters of the video game well (Scorpion and Sub-Zero are particularly well brought to life), the character of Cole Young is a new character for the film. Ably played by Tan (who excels in his fight scenes), the character maybe takes too much focus away from the characters of the game. The game has a surfeit of characters and adding a new one, who acts as a sort of guide for the audience into the world of Mortal Kombat, is not necessary, as there is already a wealth of characters for us to follow. OK, that may be a bit unfair, as the game characters are here and used (mainly) well, but it means another character (and his family) has to be juggled around an already full roster of well-known characters.
That’s perhaps this version of ‘Mortal Kombat’s’ main issue: trying to fit in too much. There are a multitude of characters to give screen time to and, while all the actors bring them to life well, some get more short-changed than others. Scorpion and Sub-Zero get a great introduction but then disappear for great chunks of the film, only to reappear for an epic fight towards the conclusion. It all gets a bit stop-and-start, as characters are introduced, their reasons for partaking in the quest/tournament established, and then we move on to the next set of characters. It’s an awful lot of set-up and not a lot of development. Seemingly proposed as a multi-film franchise (Part 2 is already in the can and on its way), this feels, much to its detriment, like ‘Mortal Kombat Origins’.
The other big elephant in the room is the lack of any tournament. Yes, there is some decent action, training sequences and fight scenes, but it all feels like it’s being set up for the tournament to happen (hopefully) in Part 2. And fans of the games and the franchise in general will be itching for the tournament to take place. Still, the makers bring the gore this time, delivering plenty of gory fatalities the game is known for, and the action (while over-edited/truncated to some degree) isn’t as bad as you may have heard across the internet. Hiroyuki Sanada and Joe Taslim shine as Scorpion and Sub-Zero respectively (their scenes and confrontations often the highlight!), and Max Huang (of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team) also makes a solid impression as Kung Lao.
A mixed bag for sure, but certainly entertaining in fits and starts, with the requisite game gore at least front and centre.
