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.