A video-game series as iconic as Mortal Kombat deserves a great movie. The ’90s served up two campy entries that were ultra-cheesy instead of ultraviolent. While it’s not enough to put the video-game movie curse to bed for good, in embracing the franchise’s savage nature, director Simon McQuoid’s 2021 update is a step in the right direction.
It helps that Mortal Kombat 2021 starts off by putting its best foot forward. McQuoid smartly opens the movie in the 17th century to establish why Hanzo Hasashi, aka Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), is out for revenge against Bi-Han, aka Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). Full of beauty as well as fury, there is more emotional weight in this sequence than at any other point in the movie. The subsequent basic yet accessible-for-the-uninitiated present-day storyline sees Cole Young (Lewis Tan) recruited by fellow Earthrealm fighters Jax (Mehcad Brooks) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) for the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament.
That we don’t actually get to the tournament here is a ballsy move, but McQuoid never forgets that the fights are the film’s main attraction. Though at times it suffers from over-editing, the generous action is mostly satisfying, aided by the fact that all the actors are doing the vast majority of their own stunts. Fans of the franchise will be glad to know the movie earns its American R rating too — when the fatalities come, they are brutal and bloody.
Another bold decision that doesn’t pay off nearly as well is to have Tan — a charismatic actor in his first lead role — play an entirely new character rather than fan-favourite Johnny Cage, a cocky, wisecracking Hollywood movie star. If nothing else, Cage would have made an inherently more fun protagonist than Tan’s Young, who is saddled with a bland Chosen One narrative we’ve seen so many times before. Still, it’s just plain nice to see Tan, Sanada and other Asian actors lead an American film where race has nothing to do with the story.
With the movie clocking in at under two hours there are too many characters and not enough time to flesh them out, but the cast do their best to bring personality where they can. Taslim is especially effective in bringing a quiet menace to Sub-Zero, while Josh Lawson is enjoyably snarky as rogue mercenary Kano.
That it’s all set to a clever, energetic score by Benjamin Wallfisch that gives us one of the best musical moments of the year in waiting for the perfect time to unleash the iconic opening notes of ‘Techno Syndrome’ speaks volumes to the respect Mortal Kombat 2021 has for its audience. Now that the groundwork has been laid, here’s hoping there's a bigger and gorier round two to follow.
