PAGE 18 • GO! MAGAZINE
Thursday, april 29, 2021 • ThE BullETiN
MOVIES & SHOWTIMES
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‘MORTAL KOMBAT’ LACKS PUNCH
LEFT: Tadanobu Asano stars in
a scene from “Mortal Kombat”
(2021).
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
Y
New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.
ou should never expect much from movies
based on video games, but I think I still
More Information
expected more than what we got. In the latest
“Mortal Kombat”
110 minutes
Rated R for strong bloody vio-
lence and language through-
out, and some crude references
attempt to put the popular, gore-filled video game
franchise “Mortal Kombat” on film, the movie throws
just about every single reference they could at the screen
while filling in the rest with bloody fisticuffs, wooden
acting and exposition to the hilt.
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The most compelling moment of the film
comes in the first 10 or so minutes in the
film’s prologue when we’re introduced to
Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), a Japa-
nese warrior and champion of Earthrealm
as indicated by his dragon mark. He, along
with everyone in his community except
for his infant daughter, is then killed by the
Outworld assassin Bi-Han (Joe Taslim).
We are then thrust into the modern era
and told of a prophecy thanks to a title card
saying that “Earthrealm is on the verge
of catastrophe,” and if it loses one more
fight against Outworld, then humanity is
doomed.
We then meet a past-his-prime MMA
fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) who carries
the mark of the dragon and meets a man
named Jax (Mehcad Brooks) who then saves
him and his family from Bi-Han, who’s now
called Sub-Zero, as he tries to take out the
remaining champions of Earthrealm.
Jax also carries the dragon mark and tells
Cole to meet up with his friend Sonya Blade
(Jessica McNamee) who will help him fight
the likes of Bi-Han.
Through Sonya, we learn about the leg-
end of Mortal Kombat and the prophecy.
She is also keeping a mercenary and all-
around bad dude for hire named Kano (Josh
Lawson) in chains as he also bears the mark,
she however does not.
The three then set out to find the legend-
ary cave to prepare for the upcoming battle,
meeting two more champions, reuniting
with Jax and meeting Lord Raiden (Tada-
nobu Asano), a protector of Earthrealm,
who tells them they need to discover their
arcana to unleash their full magical abilities
to use against Outworld
It’s a pretty basic storyline that doesn’t have
a whole lot of twists or turns, in fact, any twist
you can see coming from a ways off.
Let’s be honest, though, the story proba-
bly isn’t the reason you wanted to watch it.
Yes, there are a lot of fights, and they’re
all pretty cool and super graphic with peo-
ple and creatures getting their hearts ripped
out, cut in half lengthwise, decapitated and
much more. The blood effects are a bit on
the cheesy side, which works fine for this
kind of movie.
But the movie is trying to be campy and
serious at the same time, and it just doesn’t
work. It feels like they had one script that
they then went in and peppered in direct
quotes from the video game that don’t re-
ally work and f-bombs that feel more like
your younger sibling just discovered how to
swear and isn’t good at it yet.
There is also pretty much zero character
depth, and any development there is pa-
per-thin.
It’s not really a great film, but it never feels
like it’s trying to be. Instead, it is a blood-
soaked, machismo-laden nostalgia trip for
anyone who was a fan of video games as a
kid. Beyond that, it’s just a pretty poor ac-
tion flick.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com