What’s it About
In “Mortal Kombat,” MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family but to stop Outworld once and for all?
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
This is definitely made for the fans of Mortal Kombat. With an almost 2-hours runtime, they were (unnecessarily) able to showcase fifteen characters from the iconic game and introduce an entirely new character named Cole. Fighting styles, costumes, and a few top phrases are also done with video game accuracy. Compared to the other live MK films, this one is somewhat along the same lines of expectations. Although, this movie is not better than Mortal Kombat Legacy. Most people don’t mention that version because it was a 2011-2013 web series, not a feature film. But it was and still is the best interpretation of the game. The story in this latest version tries to rewrite history by adding Cole to its canon. He’s a decent character, but he adds to an already overloaded mess of trying to explain the roles of everyone within a script that sounds like it was written on the day of filming. Yes, it’s that bad, and the actors, no matter how hard they tried, can’t help the horrible dialog. It’s about as intense as you can get from a game-based movie, almost thirty-year-old. The action and fight scenes are a different story. You can tell that’s the only part, besides the costumes, the director was worried about. Correction, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion were the only ones the director was concerned about. The other characters are half-done like Noob Saibot, have horrible CGI like Jax, are very annoying like Kano, or have very little screen time like Nitara. Cole, the main protagonist, ultimately gets a metal-like body that unfortunately looks like a cotton bodysuit. To summarize, lousy story, lavish costumes, unbelievable dialog, decent fights, and tons of game references. It’s basically the 1995 version with better graphics.
OUR RATING – A FLAWED 6
MEDIA
- Genre – Fantasy
- Street date
- Digital – June 11th, 2021
- DVD/Blu-Ray – July 13th, 2021
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2:39.1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras
- From Game To Screen: The Making Of Mortal Kombat (HD, 22 Mins.) – The cast and crew talk about their memories of playing the video games and how it made its way to the big screen and eventually this new film.
- Mortal Kombat: Fan Favorite Characters (HD, 17 Mins.) – There are 11 segments here that feature the cast and crew talking briefly about the characters and fighters in the film.
- Fight Choreography (HD, 9 Mins.) – The director and stunt masters discuss the big fight scenes of the film and how they were executed and rehearsed with a ton of behind-the-scenes footage.
- Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 Mins.) – There are 4 deleted scenes here, none of which are integral to the whole story.
- Into The Crypt: Easter Eggs Of Mortal Kombat (HD, 4 Mins.) – The director goes through some fun easter eggs that he hid in the film and shows everyone where to look.
- Anatomy Of A Scene (HD, 12 Mins.) – There are 7 segments in total here where the cast and crew focus on the big fights of the film and discuss how fun it was to battle each other on set.