Since the release of the first film adaptation Mortal kombat from Paul Anderson more than twenty-five years have passed. Despite the low budget and in some places free interpretation of the characters of some characters, many viewers liked the film, and after years it began to be considered one of the few successful examples of video game adaptations. However, the project did not have adequate sequels. Released in 1997 Mortal kombat: Annihilation failed miserably at the box office and for many years discouraged the producers from adapting the bloody universe for big screens.
After the series went under the wing Warner bros… company representatives have often announced big plans for Mortal Kombat. As in the case of the first film adaptation, the producers of the new 2023 film, among whom James Wang, decided to play the lottery and give the film adaptation of the cult game to a novice director Simon McQuoid… Already at that time, this decision caused concern among many fans. In addition, fans were skeptical about the list of actors, among which only Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada gave hope for good fighting scenes. The film is now out in the cinema and will soon be available on various streaming services. I watched it and am ready to share my impressions.
To begin with, I will note that I did not specifically watch any trailers and did not even see the shots from the filming, so as not to have expectations and to keep the perception fresh.
It all starts from the distant past, where Hanzo Hasashi and his family are engaged in household chores, and they are attacked by killers led by the cryomancer Bi Khan. After their fight, the story is transferred to the present, where the main character Cole Young (a new character for the series) prepares for a fight according to the MMA rules, and the viewer is explained through dialogues that he is losing all the time, but at the same time he does not want to do anything else. A little later, Jax appears in the frame, who follows the main character, because he has a birthmark in the form of a dragon. It appears only for those who must protect the “Earthly kingdom” from invasion from other worlds. The plot is very intriguing and has some interesting nuances, such as the ability to pick up a tag by killing its owner, but this is where the positive moments end.
The plot itself turned out to be a set of pretentious scenes consisting of familiar moments from the games, as well as silly and unnatural dialogues. This drawback is especially pronounced when the authors want to present a particular character. I remember most of all the scene in The Outside World for its absurdity, when four characters appear in the frame, according to which it is clear who they are without further ado. Shang Tsung, looking at a vampire with wings, pretentiously and practically to himself utters: “The great hunter Nitara”, and a little later also turns to other fighters with the words: “my loyal warriors, Melina, Cabal and Reiko”. For those who do not know these heroes, the names will not say anything, and the fans do not need this theatrical performance at all. As a result, the scene looks silly, and the saddest thing is that such moments occur throughout the film.
Of course, in some places there are good jokes and funny witticisms, but almost all of them are associated with the character of Kano. In addition, the storylines, as well as the motivations of the characters, are often very poorly thought out and sometimes seem overly naive. The scene where Sonya promises Kano three million dollars reminded me of conversations in the sandbox, where children promise each other “one hundred thousand million” and then pay with leaves from a tree.
As we watched the film, the thought repeatedly arose that the selection of actors was not the most successful. In addition to the already mentioned Sanada and Taslim, who do not appear in the frame as often as we would like, from a positive point of view, one can distinguish Josh Lawson (Kano) and at a stretch Jessica McNamie (Sonya), while the rest emotionally do not seem to fall into the images of their characters at all.
However, all these shortcomings would not have had such weight if the battles – the main element of the genre – were well thought out and interestingly directed. The staging of fights and stunts in this film is ambiguous. On the one hand, the characters perform various recognizable techniques, in places exactly repeating the animations from Mortal Kombat 11, including even powerful and bloody fatalities, but on the other hand, the battles themselves are often very fleeting and sometimes end after several attacks. All this is accompanied by not always successful editing, and there are practically no such moments that I would like to revise several times, as it happened, for example, while watching “Reid” or “John Wick”.
The moment looked especially silly when a long and pretentious presentation of one of the characters ends with a duel for a few seconds, as a result of which, with almost one slight movement, he is cut in half. Looking at all this, I get the impression that the filmmakers simply did not watch modern action films. Over the past ten years, this genre has stepped very far forward, and many directors, as well as stuntmen who have occupied the director’s chairs, have learned to shoot impressive battles for relatively little money by Hollywood standards. Films such as Raid, John Wick, Tyler Rake, and the series Warrior, Daredevil and The Punisher have shown very good hand-to-hand fighting. More sophisticated fans of martial arts may recall various projects with Donnie Yen and Tony Jah. These films and TV series, as well as the film adaptation of “Mortal Kombat”, cannot boast of a large budget, especially “Raid”, but at the same time they showed excellent staging of fights and the ingenuity of the directors. Here Simon McQuoid was unable to demonstrate anything interesting, except for short fragments familiar from games and a number of other references. The duel between Sub Zero and Scorpio at the beginning, as well as their battle at the end, is the only thing that can please fans of the so-called “combat ballet”.
By the way, some especially nostalgic fans in the final battle will be very happy about one important reference. It smoothes out the frustration of the time spent on the film a little.
In the end, one could scold the film for the computer graphics with special effects, as well as not the most successful costumes, but after all the problems listed, these do not seem to be such serious shortcomings. In addition, fights with Reptile or Goro, although they seem very unnatural, but they are short enough to be a significant disadvantage.
Summing up, I would like to note that the film has many problems, and it is unforgivable for a modern action movie to be so uncomplicated in terms of staging fights. However, if the nostalgia for the films of the nineties is strong in you, then this movie will certainly delight you with numerous references. Personally, being a big fan of Mortal Kombat and martial arts movies, I was very disappointed, but I really hope that a good stunt coordinator will be brought in to produce the sequel. Well, or even give it to shoot a more skillful director, like Gareth Evans.
Author: Azamat Tegaev (Azzy)
5/10
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