The age of movies like Street Fighter and the original Mortal Kombat films, which often featured clunky choreography mixed with fighters trading bad puns, is thankfully over. It's refreshing to see an adaptation of a fighting video game pay such close attention to the art of the fighting it has on display. The choreography of the battles is off the charts, from the impressive hand-to-hand combat to the execution of each character's arcana, which are the "special moves" from the games, including fireballs, lasers blasting from eyes, and any other incredibly unrealistic but wholly entertaining maneuver the Kombatants pull off. One of the best things this movie has going for it is casting an abundance of talented martial artists in primary roles, leading to some of the most exciting on-screen fights you are going to find in a movie. Plus, the fight scenes are anchored by other high quality attributes in addition to all that blood and guts. Instead, it's stylized violence that will likely have you cheering at the screen when your favorite character pulls off a fatality. This isn't the kind of gore and brutality you'd see in a Saw film. It's important to note, though, that the violence never becomes so graphic that it's unsettling. There is no end to the blood, gore, dismemberment, and foul language on display-seriously, every other word out of Kano's mouth is an F-bomb. Unlike past big-screen adaptations of the game, this movie is rated R and pushes that rating to the limit. Mortal Kombat is ridiculously bloody and violent. Luckily, missing some of the exposition isn't going to impede your enjoyment of this movie. Still, for those who are new to the Mortal Kombat franchise, there's a lot of information thrown at you, and chances are you won't retain it all. In doing so, the film teaches us quite a bit about the backstory that's unfolding- though not everything-without becoming bored from characters endlessly explaining what's going on. While it does dispense a lot of information, beginning with the first scene of the movie that sets up an eternal feud between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, it deftly balances its exposition with over-the-top fights and action. Fans of the games will no doubt recognize this as the plot of the games that have played out over the last 30 years.ĭealing with three decades of established lore is a tough task, but it's one Mortal Kombat handles mostly well. That is until he's called on to participate in Mortal Kombat, an interdimensional tournament in which you fight to the death to protect the existence of your homeworld. Cole is a washed-up MMA fighter whose best fights are seemingly behind him. The film centers around Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a character created specifically for the movie. While you'll see some familiar characters, albeit played by new actors, and a plethora of signature movies and iconic "fatalities"-along with some familiar music cues-this new take on the video game series manages to not only be a good and faithful adaptation of the classic game, but also an entertaining and engaging action romp filled with bloody fights, plenty of iconic Mortal Kombat gore, and a promise of what's to come should the franchise continue. The new Mortal Kombat is quite different from the original. Now, though, Mortal Kombat is back on the big screen for a second shot at igniting a live-action movie franchise. While it was fun, featured plenty of action, and had quite possibly the coolest soundtrack of all time, it was not a very good adaptation of the video game it was based on. When the original Mortal Kombat film shot into theaters like a Liu Kang fireball in 1995, it quickly became a guilty pleasure for many.
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