At first, this movie brought out a great sense of morbid joy. Then it didn't age so well. At first, it was nice to have a proper Mortal Kombat film that superseded the stipulation that video game movies cannot be made well. The first movie has its faults, but it is definitely better than most all of the video game movies made around this time.
When you look at it for what it is, a Mortal Kombat game-to-film translation, it did it rather well on some counts. It does have an extensive character roster, for better or worse. The real factor that they got picture perfect, that the other films failed at miserably, was the blood and gore. This film fought hard to maintain an R rating, but the censors fought just as hard. They did not neglect that element, though.
Now, for the meat of the situation. The characters and the actors who portray them. Well, I can guarantee we will not be getting any Sindel quotes, promising Kitana she will die. Instead, we get a character that no one has heard about until this film and that was quite the double edged sword. On one hand, we have a new character who has never heard of the tournament, and can be targeted for exposition as such. On the other hand, we have a very simplistic fighter who punches all of the check marks on the list.
We get all of the greats back as well, Raiden, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Jax, Sonya Blade, Kano and so many others make an appearance and unlike the second film, they don't feel like they're bunching up all of the scenes. We get a bunch of great performances from just about everyone. Even Shang Tsung, who is not as good as Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, still holds his own as the villain. And yes, he does take souls! So that's a good thing!
Kano is one of the best things about this film. His character is utilized so beautifully and his simple quirks are amazingly humorous without killing the tone. His chemistry with Sonya and his path between good and evil is handled amazingly well. Well, up until he just flat out joins the evil side and no one saw that coming. So, they did him right, but everyone else was kind of dumb to it.
There are a few things about the trailer that you should note. While some of the lines and scenes were made for the trailer, they are at least useful to the viewer in more ways than one. Mileena looks awesome in the trailer, but quite honestly, she turns out to be just another character. Liu Kang is very intense and melodramatic while also being somewhat sidelined, compared to his role when Robin Shou played him, he's much more of a face in the crowd.
As said before, there are many characters and if I go through every single one of them, I'll be here all day. Raiden is probably one of the more disappointing characters. Not only do his glowing eyes look strange, but he is once again relegated to a spectator. He only serves the plot in indirect ways and is more or less an excuse for the bad guys to wait longer.
The plot revolves around the group of people who gain a special mark on their bodies that resembles a symbol we all know. Outworld is taking the low route and going after them before Mortal Kombat begins. The plot is simple and to the point, which is very nice because it means that it moves fast enough to get to the good parts we all came to see. The bad part is that when the film is rushed, it is very clear where the writers dropped the ball in terms of the script.
The CGI is very well done and it is very cool to see some practical effects brought in as well. There are so many movies that try to make blood through special effects, but this film does very little of that. The blood and guts are clear to see without being over used. The worst thing that can be said about the CGI is that when it's done to manipulate body parts like Jax's arms or Mileena's mouth, it is severely noticeable.
Now, let's go a bit deeper into the plot.
(Spoiler Warnings from here)
So, when I say the new guy, Cole Young, is by the numbers. I mean that in the most basic sense. If he were a character in the game, I doubt he would be played much because he has the most mediocre abilities and has been shown to be a very basic fighter. His weapons are a tonfa and a tonfa blade. Tonfas are given to characters you can't think of any other weapons for. Then his powers are seen and it's nothing more than a suit of armor that absorbs powerful attacks and allows him to power up as a result. He uses this power against Goro and honestly, it shouldn't have been that effective. They made one of the favorite penultimate bosses into something of a joke.
As far as characters go, as said before, Kano is the best out of all of them. His initial fight with Reptile is one of the best scenes in the entire movie and Josh Lawson does a fantastic job. While Reptile is a far better character in the games for this reviewer, seeing his heart being removed forcefully by this criminal was an absolute delight.
The rough spots are quite noticeable when it comes to characters, there are some that do not meet up to par. Kung Lao is a great character and the portrayal is well done, but there just wasn't a whole lot done with him. He kills some throwaway lady character with demon wings. While the fatality he performs is awesome and from the games, he's killed off for the sole purpose of giving Liu Kang something to fight for.
Reiko and Kabal are some of the lowest points in this film. Kabal's dialogue is the most stilted and rushed out of any of them. Reiko, on the other fist, has no lines, yet his actor still manages to be the worst in the entire film. So, pick your poison, clumsy ADR, or terrible nonverbal performances. It invokes a lot of cringe.
To continue my Raiden talk, this time around, he starts out as an elder god. This means he cannot get directly involved. Even when the bad guys are cheating by killing Earthrealm's fighters, the god of thunder can do nothing but make cryptic promises and use vicarious tactics to help our heroes. Hell, he blatantly insults the main character for being weak when he did NOTHING to protect countless other fighters that Shang Tsung killed!
The truest low point comes when the plot decides to take a large dump. Near the end of the movie, we have our dipping point and all of the heroes are sad, pretty much everyone loses and there is a lot of gore. Raiden literally teleports everyone to a blank white realm. It was called something fancier, but that's all it was, a white space. It was the writers scripting themselves into a corner. So, at the lowest point of the film, both storyline-wise and tone-wise, they pass us a snake-eyes roll and we are treated to a space where the bad guys can't go, and where the good guys can form a plan.
As the plot goes, yeah, they pulled it out of their asses and didn't explain a whole lot. This part nearly ruined the movie for me. Not only did they force the protagonists into a low point that seems to be a staple of movies, but the villains actually seem to go out of their way to allow this to happen. It's clumsy, but the movie picks itself up quite well.
The ending battle that ensues between the side characters are only really noteworthy because of the fatalities. Besides Kano vs Sonya, there's really nothing special to talk about. As for the fight Sub Zero, however, you get your money's worth. It doesn't forgive the bigger mistakes but it certainly saves it from being a gigantic slog.
The third act is a bit rushed, because with so many characters, there's a lot to tie up. However, as a whole, the movie is definitely one of the better video game movies we've seen. It's obvious they put a lot of work into making this film and you can appreciate it as a fighting movie in general. It just needed a bit more polishing with the pacing and the sequencing. Characters survive for plot reasons and a lot of the time, you're asking "Where's the tournament?" Well, sad to say, there is no tournament this time around. We wrap up the plot with the promise of a Mortal Kombat in the next film, which is fine.
In the end, we got what we came for. There are some bad ass fight scenes and blood. While the main character is bland and forgettable, he is not unlikeable or annoying. He holds his own in battle and he's not completely cliched, just some.
Beyond anything else, we have a movie that's decent and at least can be watched along with the first one. The 95 film is still good so it's worth giving them both some attention. It's not perfect as films go, but for Mortal Kombat, it's a place to start. Definitely give it a watch if you're a fan of the franchise. If not, it's still worth a look. Don't sweat the small stuff, but if you do sweat, be sure to drink some water.
