It’s not a standout performance per se, but it’s a nice reminder of the potential he previously showed in a memorable, one-off role in Netflix’s Iron Fist series and later in a recurring role on the streamer’s Wu Assassins series. Tan holds his own as both leading man and action hero in the film, comfortably handling both the fight scenes and the more dramatic elements of the story. After those performances, the first two films don’t have a lot to offer as far as memorably good acting, and the reboot succeeds in raising the overall bar with a lot of good-but-not-great performances from its cast. While the fight sequences in Mortal Kombat are a win across (most of) the board, the performances of the cast are a bit shakier.Īs a whole, the acting in the reboot fares a lot better than either of the original films in the franchise - although Robin Shou and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa’s portrayals of Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, respectively, in the 1995 film remain as memorable and iconic as the film franchise gets.
The Mortal Kombat stunt team clearly went the extra mile with the film’s fight scenes, and it was a worthwhile investment. The fights are as hard-hitting as they are complex, and it’s a nice touch that showcases the differences between the characters in the franchise while staying true to the martial arts movies that inspired the original game. Not only does each battle feel unique in Mortal Kombat, but (with a few exceptions), they also feel exciting and authentic to each participant’s particular skill set and abilities.
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This Mortal Kombat reboot strikes a better balance there, and manages to replicate the visual cues and aesthetic of the game’s mythology while also offering the best fight choreography we’ve seen in a Mortal Kombat movie so far. The first Mortal Kombat movie featured some decent fight choreography that was often overshadowed by the film’s desire to replicate the look and feel of the game that inspired it, putting atmospheric style over action substance in many cases. Mortal Kombat - Official Opening Scene (2021) Hiroyuki Sanada Pictures ahead of the film’s premiere (see below) - offers a series of wonderfully executed fight sequences that firmly establish the tone and pace of what’s to come with a confrontation between two of the franchise’s most iconic characters in their early years. The opening scene of the film - the first seven minutes of which were released by Warner Bros. It doesn’t take long for Mortal Kombat to set itself apart from past iterations of the film franchise. Cole is revealed to be one of several champions of Earthrealm tasked with preventing Outworld from winning the final tournament that would allow Shang Tsung to invade our realm.Īlong with a group of powerful fellow champions - many of whom wield superhuman abilities - Cole and the champions of Earthrealm must fend off Shang Tsung’s attempts to eliminate them before the tournament has even begun, and learn to harness their new powers to protect our world. The new film follows washed-up mixed martial arts fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) as he finds himself caught up in a conflict between our own Earthrealm and an apocalyptic region known as Outworld, where the sinister sorcerer Shang Tsung reigns supreme. With high-profile director and producer James Wan on board the project and McQuoid attached as director, filming on Mortal Kombat finally began in 2019. While 1995’s Mortal Kombat was a surprise hit, its sequel was a massive flop, leading to more than a decade of potential sequels and reboots languishing in development limbo.ĭespite no shortage of new editions of the Mortal Kombat game franchise released over that period, all was quiet on the adaptation front until a well-received 2010 short film and subsequent web series ( Mortal Kombat: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat: Legacy, respectively) reignited interest in bringing the franchise back to the big screen. A bloody legacyĭirected by Simon McQuoid in his feature-length film debut, Mortal Kombat rises from the ashes of a pair of films released in the second half of the 1990s that initially overperformed, then underperformed expectations in spectacular fashion.
Although the film stumbles a bit while trying to make sense of the game’s convoluted mythology and spread the spotlight among a large cast of characters, Mortal Kombat manages to deliver a surprisingly compelling, self-aware adventure that embraces many of the elements that have kept the game franchise popular for nearly three decades now. It’s aiming to recapture the bloody, violent lightning in a bottle that made the fighting franchise a cultural touchstone. More than two decades removed from the last Mortal Kombat film (1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), this weekend’s Mortal Kombat reboot returns to the well that made the original 1995 film one of the most profitable video game movies of all time.
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