Now Watching: Mortal Kombat (2021)

I watched the 1995 Mortal Kombat film multiple times as a kid, but I can’t say I recall too much about the film today. Even back then, I don’t think I thought the film was very good, but something made me want to keep watching it. Maybe it was the music. I did have the soundtrack on cassette.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of Mortal Kombat as a franchise. I don’t think I’ve actually played a MK game since MK2. But I heard good things about this new MK film so I decided to give it a shot and I’m kind of surprised by how good it is.

I say ‘good’ in the sense that it’s ‘good for a video game movie’ and that’s not exactly a high bar to clear. I’d go as far to say that it might be one of the best I’ve seen but . . . yeah, compared to the competition that’s still not exactly a ringing endorsement.

This certainly feels more ‘serious’ than I recall the 95 film being and I’d say it mostly works. The premise is pretty silly whatever way you tackle it and the film doesn’t bother trying to make the plot less so. It dumps all the exposition about the tournament in a short, expository scene, and then it’s straight back to the fighting.

It doesn’t waste time on something that if you really start to break down, is kind of silly and doesn’t make sense. I mean, the whole notion of the ‘tournament’ doesn’t even really apply to the film, as it seems you can just do whatever the f**k you like regardless of the ‘rules’.

But, whatever, it’s a Mortal Kombat film. What really matters are the characters and the fighting and for the most part, the film gets these two aspects right – with one notable exception. The main character in MK 2021 is kind of bland and useless. He’s an OC DO NOT STEAL that feels weirdly out of the place and lacks the personality of the established video game characters.

There’s plenty of references to the games sprinkled throughout the film, probably more than I know because I’ve not played the series for going on twenty years. The film is, thankfully, short and sharp. It doesn’t drag on for longer than it needs to and the fighting, overall, is pretty well handled with some decent camera work and choreography.

I don’t really have much else to say about it. It was a fun watch and I’d probably watch the sequel if they decide to do one. But yeah, I probably wouldn’t bother watching this one again. It was fine. I think if you like MK you’ll probably enjoy it.

5/10