"Mortal Kombat" Brings Blood And Boredom
The new video-game based movie has some good action but has no real substance to it.
By Tyler Lilly
The new video-game based movie has some good action but has no real substance to it.
By Tyler Lilly
Video game movies have a historic reputation for being horrible. From everything I saw from “Mortal Kombat” before release, I thought this film would break that trend, and though the movie has some good aspects it is overall not a good movie.
Let's first start with the positives. The best thing about this movie is the action. The fighting is all well-choreographed and fun. The special effects used look good and do not take away from the action. I am also a huge Mortal Kombat fan, so seeing classic moves and fatalities was really fun. The other standout part of this film is the gore. I personally am pretty indifferent to gore, but the gore in “Mortal Kombat” is extremely well done and if you like it you will most likely enjoy it in this movie. Another smaller thing I liked was the inclusion of Asian actors to play the Asian characters. It feels odd to have to praise a movie for this, but most Asian characters from the games were not played by Asian actors in the Mortal Kombat movies from the 90s.
As for something that I have mixed feelings on, I am the most torn on the myriad of Easter eggs in the movie. On one hand, I liked seeing the references that hinted at the inclusion of more characters, and hearing characters say their famous catch phrases was nice, but on the other hand, the inclusion of these Easter eggs creates a bunch of plot holes. I also have mixed feelings about the use of obscure characters. I like seeing some of the older characters who had only appeared in a few games, but there were also a bunch of mainstays who were only relegated to Easter eggs. Hinting at a certain character joining the fray just to back out almost always just leaves fans disappointed.
Now for the things I don't like. For one, the story is horrible. It makes little sense, and due to a late movie plot revelation most of the events are made unimportant. The story is incredibly exposition heavy, and it is not done in a creative way at all. I was not expecting an amazing story from a Mortal Kombat movie, but it was exceptionally bad and I felt like they focused too much on dialogue over the action. Like I touched upon earlier, there are a bunch of major plot holes. The movie takes time setting up rules to only break them not soon after. There is a major point where the movie tries to have an emotional beat, but it fails spectacularly. They only linger on this scene for a few moments and then it is disregarded for the rest of the plot. I was also not a fan of how much they changed up the story from the games. The story is not actually really centered around the Mortal Kombat tournament which I feel is a huge loss of potential.
The acting in the movie was also not the best. The worst actor by far was Matilda Kimber who plays Emily, a character so bland that I don't ever even remember being told her name in the film. Her performance was completely flat and I can not feel for her at all. The only actors who I liked in the movie were Joe Taslim as Sub Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion. Both actors played the two jaded warriors well. I also did not mind Josh Lawson as Kano. I thought his take on the fouled mouthed Australian was good, and pretty game accurate. As for the rest of the cast, they aren’t horrible, but are far from noteworthy. Another complaint I have with the movie is I do not feel like they used enough characters. Mortal Kombat has a huge roster of interesting characters yet they only used a handful in this. The inclusion of more characters could cut down on the lackluster story and give us more action.
I have very conflicting feelings on this movie, and I don't think I can really recommend it unless you love action and gore or are a huge Mortal Kombat fan. If this movie sounds interesting in concept, I would recommend a similar movie called “Kill Bill.” The movie has all of the fun action and gore of this film but actually has a competent script behind it. Overall the movie is below average and I will not be rewatching anytime soon, if ever.
“Mortal Kombat” is currently playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
Let's first start with the positives. The best thing about this movie is the action. The fighting is all well-choreographed and fun. The special effects used look good and do not take away from the action. I am also a huge Mortal Kombat fan, so seeing classic moves and fatalities was really fun. The other standout part of this film is the gore. I personally am pretty indifferent to gore, but the gore in “Mortal Kombat” is extremely well done and if you like it you will most likely enjoy it in this movie. Another smaller thing I liked was the inclusion of Asian actors to play the Asian characters. It feels odd to have to praise a movie for this, but most Asian characters from the games were not played by Asian actors in the Mortal Kombat movies from the 90s.
As for something that I have mixed feelings on, I am the most torn on the myriad of Easter eggs in the movie. On one hand, I liked seeing the references that hinted at the inclusion of more characters, and hearing characters say their famous catch phrases was nice, but on the other hand, the inclusion of these Easter eggs creates a bunch of plot holes. I also have mixed feelings about the use of obscure characters. I like seeing some of the older characters who had only appeared in a few games, but there were also a bunch of mainstays who were only relegated to Easter eggs. Hinting at a certain character joining the fray just to back out almost always just leaves fans disappointed.
Now for the things I don't like. For one, the story is horrible. It makes little sense, and due to a late movie plot revelation most of the events are made unimportant. The story is incredibly exposition heavy, and it is not done in a creative way at all. I was not expecting an amazing story from a Mortal Kombat movie, but it was exceptionally bad and I felt like they focused too much on dialogue over the action. Like I touched upon earlier, there are a bunch of major plot holes. The movie takes time setting up rules to only break them not soon after. There is a major point where the movie tries to have an emotional beat, but it fails spectacularly. They only linger on this scene for a few moments and then it is disregarded for the rest of the plot. I was also not a fan of how much they changed up the story from the games. The story is not actually really centered around the Mortal Kombat tournament which I feel is a huge loss of potential.
The acting in the movie was also not the best. The worst actor by far was Matilda Kimber who plays Emily, a character so bland that I don't ever even remember being told her name in the film. Her performance was completely flat and I can not feel for her at all. The only actors who I liked in the movie were Joe Taslim as Sub Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion. Both actors played the two jaded warriors well. I also did not mind Josh Lawson as Kano. I thought his take on the fouled mouthed Australian was good, and pretty game accurate. As for the rest of the cast, they aren’t horrible, but are far from noteworthy. Another complaint I have with the movie is I do not feel like they used enough characters. Mortal Kombat has a huge roster of interesting characters yet they only used a handful in this. The inclusion of more characters could cut down on the lackluster story and give us more action.
I have very conflicting feelings on this movie, and I don't think I can really recommend it unless you love action and gore or are a huge Mortal Kombat fan. If this movie sounds interesting in concept, I would recommend a similar movie called “Kill Bill.” The movie has all of the fun action and gore of this film but actually has a competent script behind it. Overall the movie is below average and I will not be rewatching anytime soon, if ever.
“Mortal Kombat” is currently playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.