Saturday, April 24, 2021

Mortal Kombat Movie Review

Lewis Tan stars in Mortal Kombat

Remember This Face

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: In "Mortal Kombat," MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage - or why Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family's safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth's greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana - the immense power from within his soul - in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all? Directed by Simon McQuoid.



Starring: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.

What's Good: Nothing. No, really... nothing.

What's Not: Movies based on video games usually spell trouble, and McQuoid's Mortal Kombat is no exception. The Aussie filmmaker made his mark (such as it is) directing commercials, and it shows. Toss in a no-name cast (Jessica McNamee, etc.) and a horrendous script (Greg Russo & Oren Uziel, take a bow) and it's a miracle I didn't turn off my TV set. Perhaps it would have been better on the big screen? Fat chance.

Budget: $55 million. On what, I have no idea.

Runtime: 110 minutes

Target Audience: Video game movie fans?

Bottom Line: I realize I'm past my video game prime, but a bad movie is a bad movie, and this is one heck of a bad movie. There's not one performance of (a positive) note, and the action sequences are downright laughable. Ditto for the aforementioned Russo and Uziel's script, which features gems like, "Put on a shirt, Magic Mike." Thanks for nothing.

GradeF