Film Review: Mortal Kombat (2021)
- Very Average Joe
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
Title: Mortal Kombat
Director(s): Simon McQuoid
Screenwriter(s): Greg Russo & Dave Callaham
Studio: New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster & Broken Road Productions
Released: 2021
Runtime: 1h 50m
Starring: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Mehcad Brooks, Asano Tadanobu, Sanada Hiroyuki
The film opens in Japan, 1617, when assassin Bi-Han, a.k.a. Sub-Zero, kills Hasashi Hanzo and his family, except for the hidden newborn. Hasashi subsequently becomes Scorpion. He is presumably sent to the Netherrealm/hell because of his desire for vengeance even if he is the victim in this case.
This opening scene is not bad. Sanada Hiroyuki really tries to sell Hasashi. The action and visual effects are not great but nothing outright jarring. The score with its bursts of traditional and electronic cheese is what ruins it; if it weren’t for that, one could take it more seriously.
The premise is that the Outworld defeated Earthrealm in the last nine “Mortal Kombat” tournaments. If they win the upcoming tournament to make it ten, then Earthrealm is going to be taken over. A prophecy states that a descendant of Hasashi will prevent that.
Shang Tsung the Outworld boss does not want to leave it to chance and so he orders the assassination of every potential participant in the tournament before it begins. All Earthrealm participants have a mark on their bodies.
Enter Cole Young the MMA fighter going through a slump and who carries such a mark. Of course, unbeknownst to him, he is a descendant of Hasashi. One night, Sub-Zero turns up. Despite being an assassin, he announces his presence by causing snow and hail in July. The ice effects mostly look good, so that must be the reason.
Jax tries to save Young and sends him to Sonya Blade. These two are special forces but seem to be operating independently with no support. Having US military might would make some things too easy in terms of plotting and too expensive in terms of production, so it makes sense that it has to be that way. Jax and Sonya Blade have been investigating the history of Mortal Kombat. Kano the Aussie mercenary, Sonya Blade’s nemesis, is also present.
The plot follows our heroes as they try to find Raiden’s temple and a way to prevent Outworld from winning the tournament, with Young and Sonya Blade being the main viewpoint characters.
The pacing is, thankfully and perhaps surprisingly, unhurried. It does not jump straight into the tournament just for the fighting. As a possible minor spoiler (not that it really spoils the film), the narrative does not even get to the tournament.
Structurally, it is still a series of fights, but it is of the Earthrealm warriors training whilst fighting off the Outworld warriors trying to kill them before the tournament begins. The narrative can be tightened by at least five minutes.
For a film based on a game, it is in many respects not meant to be taken seriously. As mentioned already, the opening scene nonetheless sells it pretty well. The problem is that the rest of the film is inconsistent.
There are a few laugh-out-loud moments for Kano which the Aussie character demands. The writing pushes his arrogance a bit too much at times such that he can be annoying, which is admittedly the point, but Josh Lawson does very well with the role.
The other characters, however, are more serious in nature. Unfortunately, neither the writing or the acting (more the former) is that convincing. Sonya Blade comes across as trying too hard. Jax comes across as a bit more natural and believable. Young is not particularly interesting, but he is mostly a normal and likable guy and Lewis Tan consistently brings pathos to the screen.
Liu Kang is arguably the most or one of the most straightforward characters in the franchise but his lines are simply cringe; credit to Ludi Lin for keeping a straight face. Kung Lao generally comes across as a serious character in the games but in trying to be less rigid and more natural, he ironically comes across as neither.
This film goes for a younger look for Shang Tsung and despite that, it still looks like he has bad hair and makeup. With more effort in makeup and today’s CG capabilities, it would be better to start with the old look and have him regain his youth through some soul-sucking.
Along with Sanada Hiroyuki, only Asano Tadanobu as Raiden is able to consistently sell the seriousness of their character. The latter manages this by playing it straight even though I am not that convinced he looks like Raiden. On the one hand, he arguably has an easier job because Raiden is not human, requiring less emotional range than a real human being; on the other hand, playing it straight to the point of being wooden without being laughable is not easy either and Asano does this well.
A few one-liners and key moves are perfectly delivered as funny and serious at the same time, but many are just trying too hard to be serious and falling flat. Ultimately, it is a mildly fun film that needs to be tightened but is surprisingly nowhere near as bad as I anticipated despite the cheese and cringe.
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