Mortal Kombat (2021)
Director: Simon McQuoid
Starring: Lewis Tan, Josh Lawson, Hiroyuki Sawada, Joe Taslim, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano
Primary genre: Martial arts
Secondary genre: Fantasy
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It is evident that Greg Russo's and Dave Callaham's main purpose for developing a new “Mortal Kombat“ film was to slap an R-rating forgetting how much potential the established mythos offers. Feeling already like an amateur attempt to cash in the popularity of the beloved videogame franchise, they take a number of ill-conceived liberties that diminish any interest for the on screen proceedings.
The introduction of a new (and extremely blunt) character to serve as the audience’s vessel for the perilous Outworld and its tournament is just an excuse to dump copious amounts of exposition coupled with a shoehorned family subplot that cripples the film’s momentum. Adding more insult to the injury, a cheap ploy called Arcana is used to explain magic in an already overpopulated plot with several characters that bear a handful of lines and little to no explanation as to who they are. Instead of bringing a much needed dramatic heft and verbal counterpoint, the tournament story is scrapped by having simultaneous fights that eclipse a natural story progression emphasizing the size of plot-holes. The script is so messy that we are not even geographically oriented and for all the hype around Scorpion’s and Subzero’s rivalry, it is never explored. The inclusion of an overly serious tone further damages the film rendering it unable to have fun with its key premise. By the time we reach the climax, it all ends swiftly with a notion of “that’s it?”.
First time director Simon McQuoid is unable to extract any playful performances. Excluding Josh Lawson’s take on Kano as a walking Australian stereotype that can be amusing early on, the rest are a mess: Ludi Lin (Liu Kang) has no presence reduced from main protagonist to secondary player, Tadanobu Asano who was cast as Lord Raiden based on embarrassing ethnicity criteria alone, has only a handful of lines while Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada bring some gravitas but in typical Hollywood fashion for non-native talents, they remain unexploited. Most importantly though, there is no Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa. Chin Han is the discounted version of Shang Tsung, lacking menace, memorable lines or delivery.
Now, for a film called “Mortal Kombat”, you would expect to deliver the goods in the action department. Unfortunately, the numerous fights are remarkably short and suffer from myriads of cuts and close ups infused with embarrassing CGI effects that try in vain to masquerade inexperienced actors, slow movements and shoddy environments. Despite showing some promise early on (which is still plagued by glaring editing mistakes that show stuntmen waiting to take their turn), every upcoming skirmish becomes less interesting and ends in seconds (i.e., the Mileena/Sonya fight is the definition of a cop-out).
Visually things are not exciting either. Besides some solid ice effects courtesy of Subzero’s powers, “Mortal Kombat” is a wasted opportunity to embrace a colourful lore that includes ninjas, cyborgs, sorcerers and monsters. Yet a blunt (and cheap looking) production design fails to bring to life Outworld, packed with bizarre stylistic choices (e.g., Raiden's temple has a electrical like coil at its center, Shang Tsung's throne room is a suspended corridor above a cliff, Reptile is an actual ... human sized lizard, Scorpion’s costume is a bigger size that it needs to be) and uninspired sets (and rocks, lots of rocks) instead of sweeping exotic locations.
And there is the lack of a solid score/soundtrack which was perhaps what put into the mainstream map “Mortal Kombat”. Benjamin Wallfisch uses an array of ambient electronic and percussion like sounds that bear no distinct personality or themes resulting in a cacophonous score that causes more headache than excitement.
The comparisons with the '95 film at this point are inevitable and whereas that adaptation was constantly raising the dramatic stakes with each fight allowing us to explore a different side of the Outworld, this “Mortal Kombat” is a monotonous and lackluster attempt to establish a new franchise. Devoid from any fun and character, coupled with subpar acting, atrocious editing, terrible stylistic choices and a misplaced tone, "Mortal Kombat" is sadly a travesty. If you do like Joe Taslim see him in "The Night Comes For Us" (2018). Else seek out the original cult adaptation, enjoy Tagawa and Lambert and have a blast from the 90s!
More fatality than flawless victory
+Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada
+Ice effects are solid
+Josh Lawson as Kano ...
-but even he becomes distracting
-Villains are non existent
-Subpar special effects
-Banal production design
-... and fight sequences
-Gigantic plotholes
-Atrocious editing
-Poor cinematography
-Terrible music