Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Flawless victory!”
Listen, as someone who played ‘Mortal Kombat’ once upon a time, watching the 2021 film had me nearly laughing my head off in scenes where the characters would mouth a victory catchphrase from the game. Brownie points to the creators for including brutally violent fight-to-the-death scenes and having fighters deliver a finishing line after slaying their opponents. It’s ‘Mortal Kombat’ after all.
The film opens with a tense and memorable flashback set in 1600s Japan, where warrior Hanzo Hasashi’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) wife and kid are brutally murdered by Outworld’s Bi-Han (Joe Taslim). Centuries later, Hasashi’s only surviving descendant, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a fierce MMA fighter with zero clue about his ancestry, is sought out by a ragtag group of Mortal Kombat fighters, who are Earth’s only hope against an Outworld invasion.
While a character called Jax (Mehcad Brooks) helps Cole deal with his family’s annihilation at the hands of the ruthlessly powerful Bi-Han, it’s Sonya Blade who enlightens him more about the fact that he is a ‘Mortal Kombat’ fighter: born with a mark that only the chosen are given for the legendary face-offs. Josh Lawson brings some comic relief as Kano, a skilled potty-mouth mercenary who gains the mark by killing another fighter.
Tadanobu Asano plays Lord Raiden, a stern God protecting the Earthrealm and guiding its fighters. Although, the only trained Mortal Kombat fighters who’ve unlocked their special power moves are the fire-wielding Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang), with a very cool killer hat. Others need a long road ahead before they can compete with Outerworld’s champions, who’ve been ordered to kill everybody even before the tournament begins by their evil conniving boss Shan Tsung (Chin Han).
Obviously, the story is pretty basic, and the proceedings sometimes lack the kind of energy and craziness you’d expect from an over-the-top action movie like this, but it also features some really cool fight sequences. You’ve got bodies ripping into pieces, and even if the gore isn’t at ‘The Boys’ level, it’s still pretty bad-ass.
One of the funniest, most relatable moments for me was when one of the fighters keeps using the same move against his opponent, and the frustrated fighter wonders if that’s the only move he knows. Pretty sure anybody who started out playing Mortal Kombat has had their moment of sticking to the only move that works for them, before magically or accidentally belting out the fatality!
Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Joe Taslim as primary antagonist Bi-Han deliver the most punchy performances in ‘Mortal Kombat’, while the others stop a breath short of feeling like true larger-than-life killing machines. In fact, the Hanzo opening montage made me want an entire 1600s-style ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie. Just how freaking epic could that be? With the help of some better writing obviously.
Anyway, overall, this one is pretty fun, especially for those who who are looking for the nostalgia value the film offers. It ends with a climax that promises more Mortal Kombat players are yet to enter the fray and take on Outerworld’s nefarious plans to invade earth.
Watch ‘Mortal Kombat’ on Netflix.
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