So, I love the video game series Mortal Kombat and love the original movie from the 90s(pure nostalgia). What did I think of this new movie? It’s alright. It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t garbage either. It’s quite literally somewhere in the middle. Nothing too memorable. This movie did however test our might alright. Not in a good way though. Spoilers after the picture.
So I’ll talk about what I enjoyed first. I thought some of the fight scenes were fantastic! Some were really well choreographed scenes. My favorites were the ones with Sub Zero and Scorpion. They blend their powers with the fight styles so well. It’s very creative and its hard not to smile as a fan of the series. While on the topic of Sub Zero, he’s easily the best part of the whole movie for me. He’s the stories villain and my gosh I was so happy with how he was used in the film. He’s an actual force of nature and they make him someone who you really should be afraid of with good reason! Also, I liked Kano. He’s the comic relief in the movie and I was pleasantly surprised by how much his character made me laugh. I also appreciated the inclusion of some of the most famous finishers, one liners, and gore! They took the concept and ran with it which makes me happy and honestly wanting more.
What I didn’t like. The protagonist. They created a new character for the movie called Cole, and you would think that he would be the most interesting character but unfortunately this was not the case. He’s very bland and uninteresting. I would’ve much preferred anyone else as the focal point. I just couldn’t connect to his character at all. This goes for other side characters. The movie tried including a lot of the characters we know and love, but I feel like most were reduced to side characters with not much to do . Liu Kang and Kung Lao being prime examples. There just wasn’t enough for them to do here. Most characters were outright wasted and killed off too fast in my opinion. Also, there is no tournament in this movie. I know they’re trying to set this as a movie franchise so maybe that’s why this movie was all about preparing for said tournament, but for me, it just wasn’t enough.
The movie while not being the best does deliver in some aspects I wanted to see in the franchise. We do get gorey fight scenes and awesome action, but it’s just not enough. Movie is just not memorable, and quite frankly, a screenplay mess, but I hope that if this does get a sequel, they can expand on the lore of the story and characters, and fix the issues that are very apparent in this first installment. By movie/video game standards, this is one of the better films of this genre, but that doesn’t say much. Also, please give us the tournament!
Mortal Kombat is out now in select theaters and HBO Max.
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