Cole Young is an MMA fighter who has past his best years and a mysterious dragon birthmark is something he is about to learn the truth about when he is hunted by members of the Outworld. Having to work together with Earth's greatest champions and learning about his family history in the process.
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I am a total 90s kid and therefore Mortal Kombat on the Sega Megadrive was one of my all time favourite games. Plus a soft spot for the first two films back from the 90s as well, with much loved characters and memories of the game and films. I was actually quite looking forward to seeing what would be done in 2021 with a new Mortal Kombat film.
My issues with it actually started rather early on when the opening 15 minutes giving a backstory made me realise that this was not going to be the film I was expecting. It is very much an origin story to set this up as another franchise. I am not classing that as a spoiler as that opening pretty much hinted that and then the ending confirmed it. Some of my confusion was around characters who I did not remember but at least we still have Sonya Blade!
We follow Cole Young who just happens to be a descendent of one of the best Japanese ninjas who had ever lived. He learns about Mortal Kombat and that it is a competition between different worlds to become the ultimate champions. Meeting Jax and Sonya who were ex-special forces had worked a lot of it out and knew they must find Lord Raiden's temple in order to train. Not forgetting Kano who certainly lightened the mood with some hilarious one liners!
While you might fall for the Mortal Kombat and expect the competition (I did) it is trying to set everything up for many films, which was such a shame really. It had some good aspects, for example Sub Zero being made the main villain was something I enjoyed (wasn't he the best character on the game) and then another slight twist linked to that. Seeing the training of Earth's champions, the few that were left standing was decent as well. Then the level of gory for a 15 was rather impressive, so if you don't like that type of thing probably best not to see this one.
Some moments were funny and I am still wondering and working out if they were actually meant to be funny or not. Well, my cinema screening thought it was and laughed at times in unison. It was mainly because of how ridiculous some of the acting and lines were. Another disappointment I had was the one very weak use of "finish him" which could and should have been put in a much better way.
It has left me very curious though how people who have never played the game or seen the two 90s films feel about this one, as my two stars is more due to disappointment and one star is certainly for Sub Zero and the other for Earth's champions. I guess it is now something to wait and see what we get next, as I kept thinking about a character all the way through wondering if he would appear or not.
Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson were the stand out three performances that is for sure. Let's wait and see if we get to see them actually compete in Mortal Kombat?