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The rebooted Mortal Kombat film released April 23rd on HBO Max had a legacy to live up to. The campy tone of the original Mortal Kombat (1995) is replaced with a seriousness and cinematic quality through video game-accurate fight scenes. Mortal Kombat (Simon McQuoid; 2021) brings new twists to the universe by creating the new character Cole Young, the concept of arcana, and new rules for fighting in Mortal Kombat. Despite the lore-heavy plot and the lack of the actual tournament itself, Mortal Kombat (2021) is great fun, a visually stunning film that carves out its own space in the universe and hints at a sequel.
What Is Mortal Kombat (2021) About?
Warner Brothers’ newest release through their same-day premiere program is Mortal Kombat (2021), directed by Simon McQuoid and starring Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Mehcad Brooks as Jax Briggs, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion. It is the latest franchise reboot, seeking to expand and correct the story and poor visuals of Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), with a gorier twist that reflects the video games the franchise is based on.
The film opens on the murder of Hanzo Hasashi and his family by Bi-Han in 17th-century Japan. However, he fails to kill Hanzo’s daughter, who is rescued by Lord Raiden and kept hidden to preserve the Hasashi bloodline in accordance with a prophecy. This prophecy states that the blood of Hasashi will unite a team of fighters from Earthrealm to prevent Shang Tsung and the fighters from Outworld from winning Mortal Kombat a tenth time. This descendant is revealed to be Cole Young, who carries a dragon mark as a result of his powerful lineage.
Shang Tsung knows of this prophecy and sends Sub-Zero to kill all those with a dragon mark to prevent Mortal Kombat from happening. When Sub-Zero attacks Cole, he is rescued by Jax Briggs, who tells him to find Sonya Blade since she has information on his dragon mark. At Sonya’s hideout, Cole learns of the tournament, and that one can get a dragon mark by being born with one or by killing someone with a dragon mark. Cole travels to the Temple of Light with Sonya and Kano, where he meets Liu Kang. And though Lord Raiden is hesitant to accept Cole and Kano as fighters, he instructs Liu Kang and Kung Lao to help them unlock their arcana. Kano discovers his quickly, but Cole’s arcana does not manifest at the speed Lord Raiden wishes it did. When he is sent back home to his family, he is the victim of an attack by Prince Goro, sent to kill him by Shang Tsung. This is when he unlocks his arcana and learns he is a descendant of Hasashi.
Shang Tsung concurrently recruits Kano to join his team of fighters before they attack the Earthrealm fighters. The Earthrealm fighters band together in the Void to create a plan to eliminate each of Outworld’s fighters, including Sub-Zero, and force the tournament upon Shang Tsung. They succeed in eliminating the Outworld fighters in single combat, leaving only Sub-Zero. Lord Raiden gives Cole the kunai that belonged to Hasashi for his fight against Sub-Zero, and with it, Cole is able to unlock the spirit of Scorpion. Together, Cole and Scorpion defeat Sub-Zero. The film ends with Cole leaving for Hollywood to recruit Johnny Cage for the next Mortal Kombat.
Eye-Catching Visuals
I laugh when I remember the 90’s CGI in the original Mortal Kombat. While we do harbor some nostalgia for that awful, untextured CGI that made Mortal Kombat (1995) so Camp, it distracted from just how cool the abilities of each fighter were. In an entertainment landscape that demands hyper-realistic visuals, Mortal Kombat (2021) excels with its attention to detail, from the ice crystals of Sub-Zero’s powers to the mechanics of Jax’s metal arms. In the scene where Sub-Zero initially sets out to murder Cole, he fills the whole street with snowflakes and freezes over the windows. It helps establish a chilling tone for the ensuing chase. The modern CGI techniques capture the arcana and abilities in a cool, visually striking way. Reptile’s appearance is greatly improved, although he is just an oversized lizard creature in the rebooted film and not a humanoid.
With better CGI and visuals come more technical and gory fight scenes. The editing of the fight scenes is more fluid, giving them an organic feel. Mortal Kombat (1995) had some excellent martial arts scenes, but they lacked the gruesome gore that characterized the video games and didn’t feature the games’ special abilities. The graphics department did not skimp on the gore in Mortal Kombat (2021). From bodies being sliced in half with a metal hat, to limbs being frozen and broken off, to being disemboweled, the reboot earns its R-rating easily. The gore and violence help make this new film its own and make it feel “truer” to the video games (at least in a visual sense) than the original.
The Dragon Mark And Arcana
The iconic dragon logo is brought into the rebooted universe as a mark that grants the owner access to Mortal Kombat. It is also the conduit for unlocking and harnessing arcana. As aforementioned, there are two ways to get said mark: be born with it or kill someone who has it. Cole and Kung Lao are born with their marks while Liu Kang, Kano, and Sonya acquire theirs the latter way. The introduction of the arcana is a way for the film to show off the improved CGI and give the fighters their video game abilities.
In the new film, the arcana are framed as essential aspects of competing in the tournament, and Lord Raiden even says that to fight without one makes the fighter a liability; an interesting narrative choice, but one that departs from the games’ lore on the special abilities a fighter has. The video games depict a variety of ways in which the fighters may gain their abilities, from self-inflicted mechanical enhancements to gifts from gods. The rebooted film states that all individuals, dragon mark or not, have arcana inside them and that it is the mark that helps them become realized. This aspect makes them more visually interesting, especially since these abilities aren’t depicted in the original film.
The new lore introduced in Mortal Kombat (2021) is interesting for sure, but at times it feels like more storyline strands to keep track of. Even though the dragon marks and arcana are narratively paired together in a “you can’t unlock the arcana without the birthmark” way, they add more to the film than might be necessary. The prophecy and the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero as major aspects of the plot make the dragon marks and arcana feel tacked on as explanations for why characters come to the tournament and have special abilities.
It feels like the lore is introduced to make the film feel more serious than it actually is. The first film of a franchise can often suffer from too much world-building and info-dumping, and Mortal Kombat (2021) is no exception. This film is centered around building the new universe of Mortal Kombat and showing off the characters, not the actual tournament itself. It prioritizes the Scorpion-Sub-Zero rivalry where the original treats it as a minor note. The 1995 film focused entirely on the tournament itself, and this is where it is believed that the film suffers: it does not deliver the sole thing that defines the universe and instead devotes its energy to world-building.
Cole Young’s Role
Cole Young is an entirely new character in the Mortal Kombat universe, created specifically for the rebooted franchise. His character helps Mortal Kombat (2021) distinguish itself from the original and from the video games as well by offering a fresh take on the world. At times, he feels like a mix between the Liu Kang and Johnny Cage we meet in the 1995 film. As the original Liu Kang, he’s a chosen one, and he’s seen as washed-up like Johnny Cage. By connecting him to Scorpion, the film creates that particular brand of franchise hero that’s been seen time and time again from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings: powerful, well-connected, and important.
But what makes Cole’s character stand out are his intense ties to his family. His whole character arc centers around his family, both past and present. The presence of Cole’s wife and daughter throughout the film, and his care for them, adds heart and sentimentality to an otherwise grim, violent story. He’s shown actively worrying about their safety, which gives him a personal stake in defending Earthrealm from Shang Tsung. It is only when Cole’s family is in danger that his arcana, golden armor that absorbs his opponents’ kinetic energy much like T’Challa’s Black Panther suit, is finally revealed. For Cole, the key to unlocking his strength is his family. Something interesting that I noticed is the implication that Cole can only defeat Sub-Zero when he is helped by Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, his ancestor. I saw this moment as him accepting his place in the prophecy and becoming part of a legacy, connecting with his ancestor and drawing his strength from that family bond.
Worth The Watch?
Mortal Kombat (2021) is a fun video game movie at the end of the day. There was a certain something about hearing Shang Tsung say “fatality for Kung Lao” and Scorpion say “get over here!” that made us smile with glee, reminding us of what it was like to watch the original movie when we were younger. It also succeeds where others don’t by bringing in the visuals specifically associated with the video games, like the gore and the character abilities, while also establishing its own story. If you’re looking to see a “truer” take on the original video games and get excited about a new series, check out Mortal Kombat (2021). The film feels like Mortal Kombat, even if the lore doesn’t map exactly onto that depicted in the video games.