A Revisit of the 2021 Reboot of “Mortal Kombat”

The eagerly awaited sequel to the 2021 “Mortal Kombat” movie will be showing on the big screen and for the next two slates (including this one) I will be going back to the world of Mortal Kombat. For next week’s review slate, I will be checking out the 1995 movie and its 1997 sequel (which I haven’t seen before and heard that it’s not really that great). So, for this week, let’s talk about the 2021 reboot.

Hunted by the fearsome warrior Sub-Zero, MMA fighter Cole Young finds sanctuary at the temple of Lord Raiden. Training with experienced fighters Liu Kang, Kung Lao and the rogue mercenary Kano, Cole prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions to take on the enemies from Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe.

The 2021 reboot of “Mortal Kombat” is a fun, action-paced, and violent adaptation that does feel true to the video games, even though it does lack any tournament. This adaptation of the video game did a great job bringing the movie to R-rated territory (the first two movies are PG-13) and fans of the games were happy that this movie finally brought the games gruesome “Fatalities” and bloody combat to the big screen with great looking practical and CGI effects.

The movie’s opening sequence is not only a great way to start this reboot, but it’s probably the best part of the movie. The opening goes into the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero and it brings not only emotional weight to the reboot, but also the entire fight scene’s choreography is incredibly awesome.

The 2021 “Mortal Kombat” movie delivers a lot of intense action that fans of the game will really get into. The use of practical effects combined with some CGI makes the R-rated action look really amazing and it also helps the brutal and creative fight finishers look like they are ripped straight from the games.

Most fans and critics were disappointed that this movie didn’t feature an actual, structured tournament. The 2021 movie skipped the traditional tournaments to avoid being constrained by a rigid, predictable structure. Director Simon McQuoid aimed for a “pre-tournament” story, focusing on character training and world-building, rather than a simple fight by fight competition, treating the plot as a set up for a future battle.

The 2021 movie received mixed reviews from critics, but is generally praised by fans for its intense bloody action, faithful fatalities and high production value. Despite some of that praise, the movie has also been criticized for its excessive exposition (which I thought was fine). Even though it was released during the pandemic on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously, the movie was a streaming success, setting a record for the most-watched HBO Max premiere at the time and grossing $84.4 million worldwide.

MPA: Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references   (runtime 110 minutes)

Initial release date: April 23, 2021

Streaming services: HBO Max/various PVOD services

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYH2sLid0Zc

• Hanzo Hasashi uses a kunai weapon in his garden. These knives are the most recognized ninja weapon, but they were an all purpose tool mainly used to dig and scale wall, ninjas preferred this tool because it was light and easy to travel with.

• When looking at the photograph with "Mortal Kombat" written on it, Cole says "combat" was spelled incorrectly. When the original game Mortal Kombat (1992) was being developed, it originally was titled "Mortal Combat", but there was difficulty in securing that title. Video game designer Steve Ritchie suggested renaming the game to "Mortal Kombat" , with creator Ed Boon observing that the strikingly misspelled title helped to draw attention.

• Hiroyuki Sanada had no knowledge of the Mortal Kombat franchise prior to being cast for the film. He researched the property online but also tried a "hands-on approach" by finding the classic game at a game center, in which he was "beaten every time, just losing and losing." Despite his worries about the role, he discovered that fans had Photoshopped his face on the body of Scorpion even before he was offered the part. The character's look was based on traditional Samurai armor with certain twists, such as a sharp chain from hi kunai on the shoulder plates.

• Joe Taslim credits his son with helping him make the decision to play Sub-Zero.

• To explain why many prominent warriors in the Mortal Kombat universe have supernatural abilities, the film's writers introduced a new concept called ''arcana'' - an unlockable inner power for those bearing a dragon marking. Surprisingly, the filmmakers also decided to add it to traditionally non-powered fighters. For example, in video games, Kano's laser eye, Sonya's energy rings, and Jax's cybernetic arms are all products of advanced technology, but in this film, those are special powers granted to them by the arcana.

• The film was initially rated NC-17 upon first submission to the MPAA for graphic violence. Director Simon McQuoid later hired an additional editor to cut down several gory and brutal fighting scenes to achieve a commercially desired R-rating. Ironically, the first movie adaptation Mortal Kombat (1995) was initially written to be R-rated, but the studio insisted on rewrites to give it a then-more commercially viable PG-13 rating.

• The red band trailer has clocked 116M views in its first week, becoming the biggest red band trailer of all-time, besting the 4-day mark of Logan (2017) and Deadpool 2 (2018).

• A planned third Mortal Kombat film, called "Mortal Kombat: Devastation" was initially developed with Christopher Lambert, Linden Ashby, Adoni Maropis, Robin Shou, Chris Casamassa, Keith Cooke, Lynn 'Red' Williams and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa were hired to be in the cast as Lord Rayden, Johnny Cage, Quan Chi, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Jax and Shaung Tsung, respectively. Talisa Soto and Sandra Hess were in talks to reprise their respective roles of Princess Kitana and Lt. Sonya Blade. Matthew Marsden was said to have been considered for the role of Kurtis Stryker, while Dolph Lundgren was in talks to portray Shao Khan. mink was hired to direct, with Drew McWeeny from Ain't it Cool News and his writing partner Scott Swan working on the script. Russell Mulcahy was later hired as a replacement to direct. Sean Catherine Derek and Lawrence Kasanoff took turns writing the script, which would have had Johnny Cage resurrected to help the heroes against Quan Chi and a resurrected Shang Tsung. According to Casamassa, production was halted, and eventually never happened, due to Hurricane Katrina destroying most of the sets. After plans for this third film fell through, the film rights went to Warner Bros. where it was decided the series would be rebooted.

• The film was scheduled to be released on March 5, 2021, but was moved up to January 15, 2021, until producer Todd Garner confirmed in November 2020 that the film would be delayed until theaters reopen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Warner Bros announced that their entire 2021 slate would be released on HBO Max on the same date they hit theaters, the film was given a new release date of April 17, 2021 in theaters and on HBO Max.