If building a cinematic universe was easy, literally every movie studio would do it. The familiarity of characters would bring people to theaters in droves (once they're allowed to admit to maximum capacity, of course), and who wouldn't like it? Unfortunately for anyone outside of Marvel Studios, Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, Mat Reeves's Planet of the Apes Trilogy, and, if you're talking about the right portions of it, the Star Wars franchise and/or the X-Men franchise and/or the previous two Spider-Man franchises, it's an exceedingly difficult task. What compounds this issue is that everyone thinks they can do it, and so we've now seen failed attempts to build around the Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (twice), The Angry Birds, and Jurassic World. It's a trail of movies discarded due to poor critical acclaim, underperforming box office numbers, and maybe (okay, probably) both. Thankfully, though, the MCU's continued success, measured by it's feverish and loyal fan-base, commitment to creating great movies and TV shows, and attraction of top-tier talent, there's always a new competitor ready to enter the arena.
After two laughably bad attempts to bring the famous video game series to the big screen in the 1990s, Mortal Kombat has entered the 21st century, and it brings with it the title of the best attempt yet. It should be clearly stated, however, that the bar this movie needed to clear could not have been lower. Following in the enormous footsteps of fellow blockbuster Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat will entertain you while its characters are fighting, and it will have you questioning your sanity when they're doing literally everything else. The dialogue and acting delivering it are frustratingly low-level, which will have you crying out for even more digital blood splashes, which you already get a ton of. It's not that they didn't assemble a good cast, either-- a lot of the actors are people you'd recognize, save for newcomer Lewis Tan, who plays the created-for-the-movie main character.
Let's pause on Tan's character, Cole Young, for a moment. Subverting expectations by not getting some blue-eyed, blond American up-and-comer to play Johnny Cage, Mortal Kombat chooses instead to invest in a character created out of nothing, which is refreshing that they didn't nail themselves to their source material. Of course, it's not necessarily of any value, as Cole is given your run-of-the-mill dude-fighting-to-protect-his-family trope, and is given very little beyond that.
In movies like these, which are intended to be the first step in a cinematic journey, there is going to be something of a world-building focus. There's nothing wrong with that, but this movie is very uneven with it. Certain aspects of the story and characters are glossed over (I'm pretty sure some of the villains' names aren't even mentioned, because the filmmakers are assuming viewers will know who they are). It's not going to be a problem if you've been playing the video games, but for someone who never did, there was a lot of holes throughout the storytelling. The focus of this movie is to clearly show the care taken to please the fans of the games, and I'd have to imagine they've achieved that. Subzero, one of the games' most iconic characters, is given most of the biggest fight scenes, and there is a clear effort to make his fights memorable. Same goes for Sonia Blade, whose journey is the closest this movie will get to a character with an arc. Each fighter of the iconic series is given their time to shine, although the time is allotted differently for each character. And why would that be a problem? If Tan is to be believed when he discussed his contract with the studio earlier this week, there's going to be quite a few more of these.
Yes, there are a lot of things that are imperfect about this iteration of Mortal Kombat. But if you're the type who will be able to over look that and just focus on the choreography and effects of the fight sequences, you're going to do just fine watching this. And if you're a fan of these video games, you're probably going to love this movie. It got main billing in the trailer and had people pumped up, but when the iconic "GET OVER HERE" line shows up in the movie itself, it's even more rewarding. So who cares if it isn't award-worthy? Captain America: The First Avenger was pretty forgettable when all was said and done. Same goes for the first Thor movie. If this movie is meant to serve as the origin story, and as a way to bring in new fans to build out the world and add in new elements from the video games, then this movie serves a purpose. Could that purpose also be met if you watch YouTube rips of the fight scenes? Yes, but the people who do that aren't who this movie was aimed toward. Instead, it was a movie that sent the message to Mortal Kombat fans that they are trying to give them the movie they deserve. It'll have them turning into this Leo meme throughout nearly the entire movie:
No, the other one.
Yeah, that's it.
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