First Look at Mortal Kombat (2021)
Could Mortal Kombat continue Hollywood’s video game winning streak that started with 2020’s “Sonic The Hedgehog”?
One night in the spring of 1999, a four-year-old boy stumbled into a bedroom shared between him and his older brother. He had time to kill until an episode of The X-Files would grace the living room TV. His brother was stuck doing homework while his parents were watching the Buffalo Bills lose for the 90th consecutive time. In the room lied a small TV and the iconic PlayStation console. The 4-year pressed that circular start button and the screen blasted that classic Sony logo and washed out the darkness in that bedroom. Following the PlayStation logo, a loud and frightening blast of thunder emitted from the television and there stood a man with a straw hat and bright white eyes, greeting me with his presence. He was initially frightened at first but, he was also entranced.
Flash forward to a Saturday afternoon in the year 2003 and that kid is now 8 years old. To escape boredom before dinner, he goes into his stepbrother’s bedroom and turns on his GameCube, and instantly the game, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance started and the rest became history. That kid who was frightened by seeing Raiden thundering in a dark room at age 4, that kid who mashed buttons as Sonya at age 8, that kid was me.
Through my childhood and even up to now, I have been a staunch fan of The Mortal Kombat franchise. I eagerly anticipated getting my copy of Mortal Kombat: Deception for my 10th birthday, I was beaming with exuberance when I received my copy of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon at the age of 12, and still to this day, I would meet every Mortal Kombat related announcement with intense enthusiasm. I even saw both films: The 1995 film and, of course, one of my favorite comedies, Annihilation. I even bought Scorpion’s Revenge on an absolute whim. So, when I heard that there would be a live-action, R-rated reboot coming out in 2021, I had as much excitement as a Marvel fan did seeing the latest Avengers film on opening night.
I also had plenty of fears and concerns: Hollywood’s track record with movies based on video games has been relatively poor. For a very long time, the best films in that category were: Mortal Kombat (1995), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Resident Evil (2002), & Silent Hill (2006). These films were given a resounding “eh.. it’s not awful” by critics and audiences and those were the “good ones” other films such as Bloodrayne (2006), Street Fighter (1995), Super Mario Bros (1993), & Alone in the Dark (2005), to name a few, were lambasted by both critics and audiences. For about 25 years, Hollywood was only able to produce, at best, mediocrity when it came to films based on video games.
However, in the spring of 2018 that changed when Warner Bros came out with both Tomb Raider and Rampage. While their respective receptions weren’t too much to write home about, they signaled a light at the end of a dark, rotten tunnel. Then, in both 2019 and 2020 came two films that shattered the barrier: Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019) and, one of the few brights spots of 2020, Sonic The Hedgehog. Both films showed that this is something that can not only be done but, can be done super well. Now, in the year 2021, up to the plate continue the winning streak started by both Sonic & Pikachu, which is the much overdue Remake of Mortal Kombat.
The first film will always have a special place in my heart: it’s pure 90’s, delightfully campy, and packed with some strong fight choreography. The first film established my love for campy films, Mortal Kombat, & of course, that theme song you’re probably humming right now. The 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, however, was pretty awful. Even for the time, the CGI and practical effects were of garbage quality. The writing, editing, and acting were all comically terrible. It was enjoyable but, not for the right reasons.
For years and years, I have longed for a remake to set things right. I wanted a film that wasn’t a PG-13 farce like Annihilation and in April of 2021, my prayers may hopefully be answered. As of writing this, Entertainment Weekly dropped a handful of stills, giving us “a taste for things to come”.
From what I have seen so far, I am quite impressed. I was initially skeptical but, understanding when it came to some of the casting choices WB made for this film. The budget is somewhere between $40-$50 million so, having hopefuls like Chris Pratt as Johnny Cage, Zoe Saldana as Jade, or even Heroes’ Ali Larter as Sonya Blade were a mere pipe dream. Hell, the best-known cast members are the mob boss that Clint Barton fights in Avengers: Endgame, The Black Ranger from Power Rangers (2017), & Jimmy Olsen from the CW’s Supergirl. Still, from what I see, It looks like new Director Simon McQuoid, Producer James Wan, Warner Bros, the rest of the team are taking this project very seriously.
Liu Kang (portrayed by Power Rangers’ Ludi Lin), Sub-Zero (played by The Raid’s Joe Taslim), and Kung Lao (played by newcomer Max Huang) look like they walked out of the video games themselves and onto the screen. Jax (played by Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks), Sonya (The Meg’s Jessica McNamee), & Scorpion (Avengers: Endgame’s Hiroyuki Sanada) also look on point as well. I also dug the Terminator-esque design on Kano (House of Lies star, Josh Lawson).
When I heard that the plot of this film would center around a new character named Cole Young (played Into The Badlands’ Lewis Tan), I was initially disappointed. It brought me back to what Sony and Paul W.S. Anderson (who directed the first film back in 1995) did with Milla Jovovich’s character in Resident Evil. However, I read a take on Twitter that changed my mind in the whole Cole Young situation. First, Mortal Kombat has had a habit of changing up its protagonists from time to time: after nearly a decade of having Liu Kang remain in the spotlight, both Mortal Kombat Deception and Armageddon had Shujinko and Taven which were both different protagonists with surprisingly interesting backstories.
While I may have preferred for either Sonya, Sub-Zero, or Johnny Cage (who is shockingly MIA) to take the lead in this film but, I will give Cole a fair shot. The film is promised a definite R rating and from what I’m seeing so far, looks great. I can’t wait to see this in IMAX!
Mortal Kombat will be hitting theaters and HBO Max on April 16, 2021.
