Mortal Kombat (2021)

By Ephraim Belnap

"Kano wins," proclaims Kano, holding the heart of his opponent, an invisible humanoid crocodile. 

  That sentence tells you about all you need to know about the new Mortal Kombat. Brutally violent, cheesy in its nods, and meticulous in bringing its characters to life. Now that CGI has finally caught up with digital gaming, the famous hyper-violent game series can be brought to the big screen in all its acid-spitting, fireball-throwing glory. 

    Our story starts with Cole Young, played by the inimitable Lewis Tan. Young is an original character, meant to help bridge the audience to the game's world, and a descendant of the series mascot Scorpion. A down-on-his-luck MMA fighter, he soon finds he has a larger role in defending the earth from the menaces of Outworld, "the most brutal and vicious of all the realms." 

    Joined by the heroes Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), no-nonsense Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and rebellious Australian Kano (Josh Lawson), Young makes his way to a hidden city and finds himself training to unlock his arcana, the hidden power that will let him win in the tournament known as Mortal Kombat. But the villains aren't resting on their laurels, and every step of the way the heroes are hounded by the monsters of nightmare. 

    Produced by James Wan of Aquaman fame and featuring the same pool of talent, Mortal Kombat is the peak of franchise adaptation; it's no Oscar-winner, but at least it knows what an adaptation shouldn't be. There are no drawn-out images, no indecipherable shout-outs, and they focus on good action that moves the story along. Not every character is explained for the newcomers, but not all of them need to be. A red-eyed creeper ninja is pretty graspable. The story's real heart is the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, the franchise's most famous figures, who get the most screentime dedicated to their stories. Played to perfection by Japanese legend Hiroyuki Sanada and Singaporean break-out star Joe Taslim, the two's story is the stuff of classic martial arts films, with bitter rivalries, warring bloodlines, and well-choreographed action scenes. Sub-Zero in particular is wondrous, as his namesake powers are rendered with astonishing effects, freezing everything from enemies' limbs to shotgun pellets. The climax that pits the two against each other is likely to get even the most casual movie-goers cheering as the series' iconic theme blares at full volume. 

    Boasting amazing visual effects, decent screenwriting, and breathtakingly violent action, Mortal Kombat is the videogame movie its fans deserve. And one casual movie-goers deserve too.    

Mortal Kombat is available on HBO Max until May 23