Mortal Kombat

Official Australian release date: 22/4/21. Viewed: 23/4/21.
Director: Simon McQuoid
Actors: Lewis Tan, Joe Taslim, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson
Genre: Action / Fantasy
Rating: R

 

‘Mortal Kombat’ is a reboot of the 1995 film based on the early 90s arcade game. As such, the bar is quite low! The story revolves around Hanzo (Sanada), who battles Sub Zero (Taslim) in samurai-era Japan. We then cut to 500 years later and Hanzo’s heir, Cole (Tan) is a semi-washed-up MMA fighter trying to support his family, when he’s approached by Jax (Brooks) and Sonya (McNamee) to inform him that he’s a Champion and needed to defend Earth. Fighting ensues!

We never really learn where or when it’s set, but it doesn’t really matter and the outback South Australia scenery is great to see on screen and gives it an otherworldly vibe, as it’s not the standard “American West”. There’s some allusions as to the why/what “Mortal Kombat” is and we then get to see Raiden (Asano), Kang (Lin) & Lao (Huang), as well as the “bad guys”, Nitara (Jarnson) & Tsung (Han) + Sub Zero in full costume, as they set out to destroy Earth. Special mention to Kano (Lawson), who brings comedic relief and is super-annoying – hopefully on purpose!

With the solid pacing and OK set-up in the first 15min, the film definitely meanders all over the shop and seems like it’s episode 3 of a 10-part TV series, before it gets 70min and realises it needs to make something happen, so suddenly there’s heaps of fighting and individual battles, before the big sequel-setting-finale. For an R-rated film, probably not as gory as I was expecting, but still some laugh-inducing deaths.

Overall: Semi-tongue-in-cheek action silliness.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Godzilla vs. Kong

Official Australian release date: 25/3/21. Viewed: 6/4/21.
Director: Adam Wingard
Actors: Kaylee Hottle, Alexander Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall, Millie Bobby Brown
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ finishes (hah!) the Godzilla reboot trilogy (2014’s ‘Godzilla’ & 2019’s ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’) and links with 2017’s ‘Kong: Skull Island’ in Legendary Entertainment’s “monster-verse”. The plot is: Godzilla and Kong are the only remaining “titans” from myth and therefore must fight. It brings back Madison (“Eleven”/Bobby Brown) and Dr Russell (Chandler) from ‘King of the Monsters’, for some reason. But besides the two CGI centerpieces, the only other character of substance is Jia (Hottle), the deaf orphan that can communicate with Kong.

The B plot, revolving around Nathan (Skarsgard), Ilene (Hall), Jia & Walter Simmons (Birchir) trying to get Kong to the “hollow core of the Earth” – ridiculous not-worth-mentioning physics – and C plot following Madison, Josh (“Ricky Baker”/Dennison) & Bernie (Hayes) about trying to prove Godzilla’s innocence, are just padding to get to the required runtime. Otherwise it’d just be a 40min film of two giant monsters fighting!

Which is why it’s not a terrible film – it delivers what it sets out to do. The soundtrack is odd, and when they get to Hong Kong, it turns into ‘Tron’ – including the lighting of the buildings. Not sure why... Some good CGI, with what I imagine a Komodo Dragon fighting a gorilla might be like in real life. A few laugh-out-loud moments and oddly you end up empathizing with Kong as a fellow mammal. Needless to say, I’m sure further sequels will follow.

Overall: Dumb fun popcorn flick.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Nobody

Official Australian release date: 1/4/21. Viewed: 5/4/21.
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Actors: Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Lloyd, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen
Genre: Action / Thriller
Rating: MA
 

 

‘Nobody’ is a unassuming-man-becomes-vengeful-killer film, in the vein of ‘Taken’ and ‘John Wick’. However, it definitely has a little more tongue-in-cheek thanks to Bob Odenkirk and his comedic timing/delivery. Hutch (Odenkirk) is an accountant, with a wife, Becca (Nielsen) and two kids and regular visits to his elderly Pops (Lloyd) – nothing to see here. Until their home is broken into, which leads to a string unravelling and Hutch reverting to some long-buried tendencies.

Does a good job of setting the scene, showing that Hutch has been leading a normal life and not working undercover for the CIA or anything – it’s just unfortunate that he’s led into a war with the Russian mafia and Yulian (Serebryakov). There’s not a whole heap that’s new or revolutionary, and there’s plenty of action and violence, but nothing too gratuitous or insane.

It’s fast-paced, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, with a satisfying ending a a great soundtrack, adding to some of the underlying not-too-seriousness. Great support cast of Nielsen, Munroe, Cadorath, RZA, Mengesha, Ironside and the always-a-pleasure-to-watch Christopher Lloyd, still going strong at 82. Also, kudos to Odenkirk for his action scenes at 58!

Overall: Fun action shoot-em-up.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.