2 out of 5

Directed by: Simond McQuoid

I recognize that the Mortal Kombat game franchise has evolved to have quite a bit of lore behind it, but any attempt to dive into it still, inevitably, focuses on where we started: there’s some tournament between different world’s best fighters. And… fight.

While this isn’t a setup that prevents deeper story additions, particularly in terms of character backgrounds, when recapping the various Kombat movies – including this 2021 edition – it’s hard not to fall back on that description. The wrinkle here is that bad guy fighter Shang Tsung (Chin Han) is planning to practice the ages-old art of cheating, and attack the fighters of “the Earthrealm” before the official tournament begins, hopefully preventing a prophesy that would see Earth’s warriors totally kicking butt. And… fight: one on one, or two on one, cameoing arenas and catchphrases and, yes, fatalities from the game.

In all sincerity, this is a fair ‘alternate’ approach into turning a fighting game into something that juggles some narrative with plenty of fanservice payoff, and I even like the midichlorians-esque ‘Arcana’ explanation, which is an innate power granted to every “kombatant” which results in Sub-Zero’s ice powers, or Kano’s laser eye, or however the Arcana expresses itself in that individual. Like, goofy, but no moreso than rings of power or anything else; it works.

Unfortunately, from script to screen, the film flounders between attempting a serious approach, where the legacy of the ninja Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) leads to the emergence of Earth’s premiere champion, Cole Young (Lewis Tan) – our main character, and whose introduction to the Otherworld and Mortal Kombat provides a nice audience surrogate – embracing the cheeky, over-violent nature of the games, where people pause to say “flawless victory” and many one-liners that teenagers might chuckle at are uttered. The film lurches between these styles very clumsily, not helped along by boring, 100% functional dialogue (not questioning events, just stating them out loud to move the plot along) and actors who were unable to bring much life to that dialogue, and a completely odd sense of pacing – again bifurcated by these attempts to give us story or give us action, very literally cold-cutting between scenes, back-and-forth, no transitions, to keep both of those styles running concurrently.

The action could definitely be the saving grace, and at points, it works: some tight choreography and imaginative effects (especially with Sub-Zero) and the goofy gore are fun, despite occasionally choppy editing that cuts away from key moments too quickly and leaves others hanging for too long (perhaps playing around with maintaining an R-rating). At the same time, given the fantastical nature of MK, we have some heavy CGI that doesn’t carry enough weight when paired with the physical actors, giving these fights a somewhat low-budget vibe, though probably admirable considering a budget absolutely dwarfed by other effects-reliant films.

The end result is a movie of cool moments and concepts, and then tons of near misses: poor line readings, baffling editing and pacing, and a tone that never quite allows things to get as silly or serious as they could.